sarah filmer
youkin, mekin, otherkin
i am an artist, an educator, a researcher and a vet. i make art because i have to - in making, i sometimes find answers and solace in a troubling world. i am currently working on 'newkin' - a dycp funded move into foregrounding drawing as a practice, working with my trans daughter to look and see her better.
more generally, i make lines. lines of twine, drawn lines. they are connections between elements of the more than human world: i draw pigs with the help of pigs; i move through space in the company of dogs; i make twine with collected leaves, and ink with oak galls that fall in the autumn.
how do we navigate our place in this beautiful world, where pigs and wasps and dogs and cordylines encircle and entwine with balance, respect and empathy? my drawing and objects speak of reparation and connection, finding better ways to feel and ‘be with’ our non-human co-habitors, and move gently through this time and place.
finding hope, as the anthropocene casts us as purveyors of evil, requires fresh perspective – where small gestures and intimate moments write something positive on a barren/burning page. i spend time with otherkin of all types – human, animal, plant, inorganic – searching for where and how we meet and generate confidence, aspiration and desire.
