Connection, the kind that nourishes the marrow, does not know the bounds of species. I do not risk hyperbole to say that all humans know this truth. From the prolonged relationship of a companion animal to the acute encounters with a neighboring heron, hen or turtle, I relish the moments when I come body to body, being to being with another animal. But we so often forget this capacity for interspecies connection in a world insistent on marginalizing nonhuman animals.

They are commodified as meat, fetishized as zoo animals, demonized as predators or prey for hunting, or castigated as vermin.

We have long forgotten how to be in admiration of the fellow beings whose capacities for consciousness, joy, curiosity, resiliency, grief or kindness are beyond what we will ever understand.

My art practice comes from a deep longing for a cultural ethic that values nonhumans as siblings rather than objects or automatons. My paintings, drawings and sculptures serve as records of the interactions I have with nonhuman animals—whether at a farm, zoo, pond or sidewalk. Through image-making, I do not intend to “capture” the animal subject but tactilely feel my way towards them and evoke their elusive presence. Many of the works involve an act of ritual, sustained witness, or a particular ethic involved in making the paintings or drawings.

With art uniquely able to touch the softest core of us and, through this means, to make and share meaning between us humans, my work intends to be an open door to invite others in and participate in conceiving another way to relate and care across species lines.

Linnea Ryshke (born in Los Angeles, California) is a visual artist, writer and educator who creates paintings, drawings, objects and poetry. She understands art as integral to the shaping of cultural ethical landscapes, and positions her work as part of an effort to restore reverence for nonhuman life. Her work is based at the intersection of animal ethics, ethnography and the poetics of imagery and materiality. She received her BFA in Painting from Pratt Institute and MFA in Visual Art from Washington University in St. Louis. Her work has been exhibited nationally, and she released her first book, Kindling, with Lantern Publishing and Media in the fall of 2021. She is currently based in St. Louis, Missouri.