JOSIE CAVALLARO

Foothold

The cemetery gives animals a grip into a heavily urbanized area. The type of wild life depends on the management plan and the cultural riches informed by custom, ritual and preservation. Rabbits are common in cemeteries, where soft soil, short green grass and slabs of stone for shelter are ideal for rabbits to burrow, feed and breed. The cemetery as a shared habitat between rabbits and humans (both dead and living) has narratives in both superstition and destruction.  According to Celtic folklore, the fact that rabbits burrowed deep underground meant that they were in direct communication with the gods and spirits in the underworld. The rabbit foot as good luck charm also carries permutations of this idea and is shared across a number of cultures. Counter to this, rabbits are commonly positioned as threat to the preservation and function of the cemetery. Burrowing rabbits weaken the foundation of burial sites, resulting in sunken graves and the collapse of heritage headstones. This activity accelerates the image of decay and squarely places rabbits as pest. Foothold explores the themes and tensions between the human quest for preservation and the opportunistic rabbits that occupy the sanctuary of the cemetery. 

This exhibition is part of an on-going series titled Grazing on Graves that considers the cemetery as a shared multispecies site.