- Unicorn: Summary of Endangerment -

Description by Kim Heise

According to legend, the unicorn is said to have been the first animal named by Adam and Eve in the garden. When they were banished, the unicorn followed them out of the garden into the world. It is a symbol of purity and peace, even biologically: other horn bearing animals of the same description use their bi-lateral headgear primarily for fighting each other, and so their two angled horns serve to prevent them from jabbing each other in the head and killing each other. But unicorns were not meant to fight one another since two sparring unicorns would certainly kill each other, and a habit of killing would spell the end for it's species. In this way the unicorn is like humanity; charged to use it's tools not for fighting but for cooperation. In this piece, I wanted to highlight the destruction we cause against ourselves and the environment when we use our tools against one another. ---The text in the piece is a juxtaposition of endangered animal reports, Ivory trade reports, human trafficking statistics, deforestation facts and the numeral values of the casualties in several of the most current wars, serving to illustrate the broad sweep of ways in which human violence is expressed, and how it is all connected at the core to back to the roots of violence. Of all the text, the most important is the paragraph on the bottom: ---"The behavior and biology of animals have evolved to prevent large-scale fatal conflicts between individuals of the same species. The horns and antlers found among Ruminant Artiodactyl mammals are no exception. Since the main use of these structures is head-to-head sparring between individuals, rather than self-defense, the angled bilateral symmetry serves to prevent most head wounds which would be deadly. A unicorn’s biology takes no such precautions, and any conflict in which the horns are turned against one another will most likely be fatal. Unlike other animals, the unicorn’s horn is for self-defense; and yet, interpersonal conflicts are now recognized as a leading cause of death in this species. ---800,000-3,800,000 died in a conflict between 1955–1975 ---60,669,200-84,589,300 died in a conflict between 1939–1945 ---16,563,868-40,000,000 died in a conflict between 1914–1918 The population is believed to have declined by 95 percent in the last century. Unless the killing stops, they are expected to be extinct within 10 years ---Wikipedia: List of wars by death toll ---Global Issues: Declining Number of Tigers ---Salon: African forest elephants are being massacred into extinction by Richard Schiffman 2014" -------I've been doing a lot of thinking about the environment, looking up a lot of stats about elephants and poaching and the like, and I came across Art For Apes: Endangered, a juried art show in Wynwood during art Basel. This is my submission for that event.