Artist Statement:
On the 7th full moon of the year 2010, my great grandfather entered the jungle to hunt for a magical beast. He called it a “tê giác” My great grandfather was a hero of the revolution and a great hunter, but on that day, as he perched in a tree to wait for the animal he slipped and fell to the ground. When he gained consciousness, the te giac was licking his face. He saw it with his own eyes. It moved gently and deliberately. The rhino opened his mouth and spoke to my great grandfather in a deep and soft voice. The rhino told my great grandfather that it had previously been an artist who drew a rhino from his imagination hundreds of years ago and since has kept reincarnating as a rhino. Then it walked away and disappeared into the deep jungle. It’s carcass was found 3 months later, horn chopped off, and fragments of a bullet was lodged inside its leg. It was the last of its kind.