3200 Tigers

Amendment: The below artist statement was written in 2012. At the time of writing this amendment (April 2024) the number of tigers existing in the wild is 5574. An amazing achievement and positive news that we don’t often get regarding animals.

A century ago there existed around one hundred thousand tigers in the wild, a significant and safe population. Today, their numbers have dwindled to a mere 3200. Although there are many more tigers kept in captivity, and conservation efforts are in place, if their numbers continue to decrease at this rate and tigers are unable to live in the wild, the species may become extinct.

When originally shown in 2012 at ‘The Word Conterminous 2’, ‘3200 Tigers’was made of a wooden shelf attached to a wall with 3200 handmade tiger crayons piled on top. Below the shelf sat a matching piece of wood and viewers were invited to essentially 'use up' the crayons until they were all gone, an analogy for what is happening to them in the wild. A small plaque with the engraved title ‘3200 Tigers’ was attached to the front of the shelf and was intended to suffice as explanation to the intent behind the work. Viewers were provided with a plain white paper and asked to draw pictures of tigers to attach to the wall. The addition of interactivity did not work as well as hoped, so this work was reimagined. The tigers now sit around a home-made wine bottle parodying the popularity of Tiger Bone Wine.