My interest in roadkill began on a trip to the southern States in 2005, where I was astounded by the amount of it 'littering' the highways - one sad result of our car-dependent culture and 'disposable' attitudes towards objects that we use or that cross our paths. I chose to document each of these lost lives in order to later give them new meaning, deliberately depicting these animals in ways that often contradict the violent way in which they died, hoping to create for them a more peaceful environment. The location being the Florida Turnpike made this no easy feat, but it has become somewhat less dangerous being back in Canada and finding most of my 'models' on less major thoroughfares.
Since early 2006 I have been documenting roadkill in Victoria as well as on subsequent trips to Australia, Europe, the US, Manitoba and Ontario. Some of the poses, ironically, suggest the playfulness of the animal; others depict what appears to be a sleeping or stretching pet. I keep the poses true to the way I find each animal. After a time, my interest extended to depict other types of 'roadkill': gloves, rags, paper bags, socks... other such discarded items that one anticipates will be a squirrel, raccoon or bird.
The idea of randomness in coming across either an animal or discarded piece of clothing was what led to my associating these objects with a slot machine. The likelihood of the mass on the street being a pigeon or a rag, for example, seemed equal. Furthermore, how it was left to 'decompose' seemed to matter just as equally ( i.e. not at all). This kind of insensitivity to animals was what ultimately drove me to adopt a black-humour approach to the subject as a good way to draw attention to a certain carelessness in our actions and attitudes.
In the end, my intention is twofold: to use art to show that beauty is everywhere, including places we least expect it, but also to make a statement about how we are responsible for these deaths and how little we appear to care about it. Death is certainly part of the natural order of life, but whereas the death of an animal in nature usually serves a purpose, roadkill is neither useful nor respectful. Most of these images are supposed to be serene and harmonious, paying tribute to each animal. Others are either slightly more graphic or irreverant in their representation of Stories from the Road.