Descendant

Isabella Kirkland, artist

born 1954

Trillium Graphics, printer

founded 1979

Feature Inc., publisher

Descendant, 2007–2008

Portfolio/Series title: Taxa portfolio

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: inkjet print; Moab Entrada paper

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 862 x 645 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 33 15/16 x 25 3/8 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 888 x 671 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 35 x 26 7/16 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: Helen Foresman Spencer Art Acquisition Fund

Accession number: 2011.0017.02

Not on display

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Kirkland’s Taxa is a well-researched study of the comings and goings of species. The individual compositions depict a total of about 400 species and are grouped in pairs: Descendant (endangered, protected) and Ascendant (non-native/invasive species); Trade (depleted by both legal and illegal markets) and Collection (desire to possess, study, exhibit, admire); Back (brink of extinction or believed to be extinct, now larger populations) and Gone (extinct since mid-1880s).

The significance of death and extinction in this series recalls in some respects a 17th-century Dutch vanitas flower painting or still life, in which the presence of insects or of dead and dying leaves suggests the fleeting nature of life and serves as a memento mori, or reminder of one’s own mortality.

Kirkland’s Taxa offers a fascinating group of case studies that detail changes in Earth’s biodiversity, especially under recent ecological pressures. Taxa was realized as a series of paintings, each of which took a year or more to complete. The works exhibited here are detailed inkjet prints made after Kirkland’s paintings.