One of the most interesting articles of TCR was Myfanwy MacLeod’s “Master Rabbit I Saw,” which was released in Fall 2015. Myfanwy MacLeod is actually a very familiar artist to us Vancouverites, because most of us may have encountered her public art The Birds, two giant sparrows in the Olympic Village. In her article “Master Rabbit I Saw,” MacLeod briefly shows how her exhibition, The Private Life of the Rabbit, has been created. First, she tells a local newspaper’s story, in which a bear in a zoo cunningly crossed a moat paddling on a log, climbed a wall, and then rode a bicycle in the process of escaping the zoo. MacLeod says the bear’s will for freedom still amazes her. In fact, MacLeod declares that “My artistic work is often informed by animals and is shaped by their appearance in various genres of writing–ghost stories, tall tales, mysteries, myths, fairy tales, jokes, poems, essays, and memoirs.” The Private Life of the Rabbit is one of them, because the title came from R.M. Lockley’s book with the same name. MacLeod says “The Private Life of the Rabbit is a mash-up of Lockley’s popular work of natural history, [Richard] Adams’ fantastic and dystopian view of the English countryside, and John Berger’s 1977 essay “Why Look at Animals?” ”  Then, she tells us how the project was initiated, and what was her stance on the project. It was Jonathan Middleton of Vancouver’s Or Gallery who invited her to join his series, The Troubled Pastoral, that was being co-produced with Mark Lanctot. MacLeod also describes that “My take on the pastoral genre is absurdist. Everything I know about it I learned from Monty Python.” 

          I liked this article very much because it shows an artist’s source of inspirations and the process of creating art. Also, I was amused to see how literary works and visual arts are inter-connected, as well as human and animals are. As a matter of fact, humans are a form of animals, but we almost forgot that. As per animals’ point of views, I once had an eye-opening moment. Several years ago, I was watching a documentary about Le Corbusier on flight, to beat the boredom. Now I don’t exactly remember the main contents about the architect himself, but I clearly remember the powerful ending. There was a lone wolf on the edge of the farmland after the sunset, watching a lighted house’s window with an old man’s shadow, being curious what the purpose of the weird structure–house– was and what the meaning of the human’s movements were. That scene gave me a totally new perspective of viewing my surroundings. To wild animals like wolves, human’s precious ownership of lands, fields, houses, and money would be incomprehensible. They must see humans as though we strangely lock ourselves in a small patch of land or hut and do unnecessary labours. Since then, from time to time, I try to clarify a complicated situation by watching it with the simple eyes of an animal. It has been quite a good tactic for me, along with the other method of assuming I recall the situation on my very last day. I was amused to read MacLeod’s article as though I encountered a close friend, with whom I can share interesting stories about animals endlessly.