Messages From Mega Fauna

Have you ever had a one-on-one encounter with a wild animal?

This community engaged project is your opportunity to write a letter to a wild animal that you’ve encountered.

Select letters will be used (anonymously) in future wildlife themed projects, like the animation above, public art projects, online story mapping, and more!

Check out the writing prompt and form below to add your wildlife encounter story.

WRITING PROMPT

For this activity, think of a real encounter that you have had with a wild animal.

Think about where it occurred: Was it in a human-centric area or in a natural space? Think about how you felt during the experience: How did the experience affect you?

Now, think about the encounter from the animals’ perspective: Did the animal seem surprised or afraid? Did it turn away or did it wait for you to move? What was it doing before and after the encounter?

USING THE FORM BELOW, WRITE A LETTER TO THAT ANIMAL

First Name + Last Initial

What city or town do you live in?

Where did this encounter happen?

Be as specific as possible, this project might turn into a Story Map later on. [ie: 'Stanley Park' rather than 'Vancouver']

What you would say to that animal if communication was no barrier?

Anything else you want to share about your wild animal encounter?

Are there any additional details that made this a memorable experience for you?

Email (optional)

Original *Messages from Mega Fauna* display at Beaty Biodiversity Museum in 2022.

ARTIST STATEMENT & MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT:

Inspired by my own creative writing & art series #DearSongDog in which I corresponded with an Omnipresent Coyote, Messages from Mega Fauna, began in 2022 as a community engagement project in which participants wrote a letter to a wild animal that they have personally encountered, writing as if communication were no barrier.

In the first year over 200 letters were submitted. The letters reflect our concern, compassion, and encounters with wildlife.

Not knowing quite what I would be doing with the submissions, I have so far added select letters into Ai to generate images (galleries below); used them as inspiration for exhibitions and residency projects; and more recently have begun using the letters in combination with my analog animations.

I hope you will submit your stories and share this project with friends and family. I invite you to sign up for my e-news to get updates on this project, and if you’re on Instagram go follow @messagesfrommegafauna

Messages from Mega Fauna + Artificial Intelligence

The two galleries below are a sequence of images, the first is a scan of an original hand-written letter (66 letters were selected for this 2023 iteration), followed by 4 or more images that were generated by Ai in response to typed letters.

There is a double-joy in the way this is presented: the joy in reading the submitted letter and the joy of seeing how Ai interpreted those words.

This is the first time I have utilized Ai as a tool in my practice. Interestingly, because Ai is learning all the time, if I were to input the same words from these letters again today, an entirely new set of images would be generated.