Jennifer Wen Ma

Long Live Dodo!

2003

In the middle of gallery stands a giant white plastic bag: 2 meters high, 5 meters long and 4 meters wide, laying on its side. The bag is an enlarged version of the common shopping bag. Walking around the bag reveals an entrance. As one enters the bag, it rustles and shifts. A double bed covered with green blanket occupies the center. On the bed, in a spot that is darkened by a layer of shed fur, sits a cat skeleton, lit by a spotlight from above. All around the bed are flowers, both plastic and fresh, and crumbled tissues and handkerchiefs, piled high and sloping away from the bed in the shape of a pyramid.

The skeleton is of Dodo, my beloved cat who died in 2001 from falling out of my fourth-floor window while chasing a pigeon. A series of work was born out of the event to investigate loss, grief, transition between life and death, the relationship between man and animals, in particular pets, and emotional attachment, dependency and longing.

This installation in particular is a meditation on the physical presence that a creature occupies when alive and the impact of its absence. It addresses self-generated significance of emotional dependency and the devastation and grief that result from its loss.