Shaun Slifer

Shaun Slifer
"Old One of the Forest"
$20

I made these prints around this time last year while a resident artist at AS220 in Providence, RI - I forgot I had them and they've been hiding under my bed with so many other monsters. At the time I was thinking a lot about the taxonomy we use for flora and fauna, particularly the differences between the regimented scientific lexicon (Latin language classifications, etc) and "common" or "folk" labels which often either predate the modern terms or survive to this day in regionally-specific spaces. This first became a big deal to me as I was grappling with the language surrounding mushrooms and other fungus - not only does the scientific lexicon shift dependent on new research, but often even the top-ranking fungal field guides contain "common" names that are fabricated by the authors based on publishers' desire to put out books that won't alienate the average enthusiast. Conversational terms for the morel mushroom, for example, are intriguingly specific depending on the region you're in.

At any rate, this isn't a print about mushrooms, it's a print about a bear (eating an ungulate). In some of my readings about the myriad pre-colonial understandings of the roles of apex predators in North America, I continued to come across not only differing terminology (translated into English in my case), but entirely different concepts then I was used to hearing of how these animals fit into the ecosystems in which they operated. These top-of-the-chain predators were often not just viewed as another sentient being in the woods, they were often interwoven into the fabric of the woods themselves.

"He was the forest, and when he moved, the forest moved with him."

Printed on a Vandercook #4 at AS220 in Providence, RI.

handset and photopolymer plate letterpress print
7.75"x10"
unsigned