“Man Eat Animal Eat Man” explores the ties between humanity and nature, specifically man’s love of, reliance on and recklessness with nature.  I chose to create a buffalo surrounded by seagulls to show that everything in the natural world is fragile, constantly changing, and impermanent. 

Why the Buffalo? The American buffalo population dropped by more than 99.9% during the 19th century. After dropping from tens of millions down to fewer than 1,000 animals by the late 19th century, conservation efforts have rebounded the population to roughly 400,000 today.

U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.). People and bison. National Parks Service. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/bison/people.htm

Why the Seagulls? Over the past 300 years, North American gull populations experienced a dramatic cycle: they plummeted during the 19th century due to intense egg harvesting and the feather trade, exploded to historic highs mid-20th century by feeding on open-air landfills and commercial fishery waste, and are now in a steep decline due to modern trash management and shifting marine ecosystems.

• Belant, Jerrold L., and Richard A. Dolbeer. "Importance of Landfills to Urban-Nesting Herring and Ring-Billed Gulls." Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 43, no. 1-3, 1998, pp. 11-19.

• Hostetler, Jeffrey A., et al. The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Analysis Results 1966 - 2024. U.S. Geological Survey, Data Release, 2025.

• Winton, R. Scott, and Mark River. "The Biogeochemical Implications of Massive Gull Flocks at Landfills." Water Research, vol. 122, 2017, pp. 440-448.

Exhibition Description

The “Man Eat Animal Eat Man” is an installation that includes a series of 10-15 wall-mounted animal head sculptures, an animation titled “Run, “ and a large Buffalo Puppet surrounded by seagulls. I chose to create animals that are all from North America. Each of these animal population has experienced change in the last 200 years. The animation depicts a man running from and towards different animals. It includes ambient rhythms and layered natural sounds.

Where is this work being shown?

“Man Eat Animal Eat Man” will be exhibited at The Brett Llewelyn Gallery at Alfred State College (Throughout September 2026) and the Arts Council for Wyoming County Gallery (February 2027.) The Wellsville Christmas Parade (late November 2026) is being organized by the Babcock Theatre Preservation Society. The birds(seagulls) and buffalo puppet from “Man Eat Animal Eat Man” will be exhibited the Wellsville Christmas Parade in Fall of 2026.

Special Thanks to Alfred State College SUNY, the Babcock Preservation Society, the Arts Council for Wyoming County, the New York State Council on the Arts and the United University Professions (UUP.)

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Arts Council for Wyoming County.

This project was also funded by the UUP Individual Development Award program.