Lost Specimens from Neotropical Futures: Evolutionary Species of another Place and Time

Anthropogenic pressures are impacting our planet with increasingly dramatic effect, especially here in the Tropics, where even the boundaries of the region itself are under threat. Evolutionary developments in all facets of life, from the physical and environmental to the digital and intellectual, unleash profound issues that affect us all. “Lost Specimens” is a result of my research and deep reflection on humans’ pervasive influence on all aspects of life, inspiring me to create hybridized species that are rooted in our planet but exist in parallel realities of an alternative space-time. The specimens presented in this paper come to us from a neotropics of the far future. Crafted from forest detritus, these meticulous artworks—a form of vegan taxidermy—are a satirical comment on the profound impact and environmental degradation our actions are having on biodiversity; so too are they intended to highlight the Age of Blur we currently find ourselves in, where once distinct binary distinctions such as true/false, analogue/digital, science/faith and now tropical/temperate are being provoked into redefinitions which reveal new interrelations.