My forthcoming exhibition, bat behaviour, explores human-bat relationships through the lens of an animal phenomenology. Informed by multiple conversations with museum curators, scientists and bat enthusiasts, the works reflect on the limits of human bodies and interspecies care, while proposing imaginative strategies to encourage an empathetic connection with these idiosyncratic mammals.

 The process-orientated video work, bat behaviour (2024), shown at Plurality, Javett-UP Bridge gallery, forms the starting point for this new body of work. Through a candid enactment of isolated aspects of bat behaviour, I aim to strengthen my bodily and empathetic connection with these idiosyncratic mammals. As the work quite visibly stretches my own capabilities, attention is drawn to the limits of human physiology and the commitment required from humans to meaningfully engage with more than human forms of consciousness. This work follows Thomas Nagel’s insistence on pursuing the specificity of more-than-human experiences as outlined in his seminal text “What is it like to be a bat?” (1974). The development of this new body of work will involve a relational research methodology pursued during an artistic residency at the University of Pretoria’s Future Africa.