BARDOS

As a practicing animist, I feel deeply the melancholy of how we treat the natural world without regard. In this work, I want to explore what it means for animals to experience death through the lens of the Tibetan Buddhist understanding of the bardo—the transitional state before rebirth, a passage of detachment from the body, contemplation, and dissolution into what comes next. In our world, countless deaths occur each day outside the natural cycle, not through predation or balance, but through human disregard, greed, or carelessness. These are deaths without purpose.

In this series, each animal I portray will meet the viewer’s gaze directly—unless its passing was part of the natural order. Those who died needlessly will look back at us, silently asking why their lives were taken. I imagine them suspended across vast landscapes, their forms hovering above the countryside, the unnatural dead bearing witness through their eyes.

Through these images, I aim to convey the consciousness of the animals as they move through the stages of the bardo: detachment from their physical form, merging with their surroundings, and ultimately transitioning toward their next incarnation.

We’re outta here (Tiger Bardo)
2025
84”H x 108”W
acrylic on raw canvas, charcoal, conte crayon, sewn canvas and linen, thread, india ink

Iberian Wolf Bardo
2025
64″H x 45″W
acrylics, house paint, charcoal, reclaimed photo back drop canvas, linen, india ink, thread

(Iberian wolf ascent with aura over painting of Portuguese ocean view painted over satellite view of Portuguese mining ponds)

Hare Bardo
2025
36×36″
pen and ink on linen, shellac ink on canvas sewn on linen then sewn on panel, thread

Otter Bardo
2025
47.5″H x 47.5″W
charcoal, acrylic, house paint, reclaimed photo back drop canvas, linen, india ink, thread

Swallow Bardo
2025
64″H x 64″W
charcoal, acrylic, house paint, reclaimed photo back drop canvas, linen, india ink, thread

Fox Bardo (Pounding Hoof Visions)
2025
48×60
shellac ink, charcoal, and acrylic on yupo