Philipp Pahin

ARTIST STATEMENT
Philipp is currently a Visual Arts Ph.D. candidate at LaTrobe University.
His research investigates what we know about how animals perceive humans (through the lens of ethology, common experience, and non-invasive sensory-imaging technologies), and exploring non-anthropocentric approaches to human-animal interaction and representation. His work documents the visual artefacts of human-animal interactions, and is particularly interested on what we can learn about ourselves by considering how animals react to us.

He works in graphite, charcoal and oil painting, plaster casting, as well as using digital media – in particular the digital brush. Philipp values the mimetic aspect of representational painting and considers mimesis as a path towards understanding the non-human ‘other’.  Working from live observation; reviewing ethological and cognitive animal psychology literature; unobtrusive photography; and ethical human-animal encounters.

His conceptual underpinnings include current Human-Animal Studies and Biosemiotics, and he is currently co-authoring an article on zoophilic visual representation of animals.