Carnivora Domesticatus

Sculpture by Maile Iwanaga
Photo by Valerie Graham

A very unique display was presented by Maile Iwanaga called, Carnivora Domesticatus, to fulfill her Bachelors of Fine Arts at CSULB. The title of the exhibition,"Carnivora Domesticatus", roughly translates into, Domesticated Animal. The pieces brought a new spin to the art gallery because instead of being on the wall, Iwanaga's art was displayed in large animals on the floor.

I found the unicorn looking pig (pictured below text) to be whimsical looking. The ceramic pig had markings on it that would suggest the best cuts of pork.

Photo by Valerie Graham

Iwanaga stated, “All my life I have had a strong relationship to food. My first passion has always been to cook, and then I later decided to pursue ceramics. The time I spent in the kitchen helps to continuosly inform my artistic process.”

Another odd feature of one of Iwanaga’s pieces was that of her ceramic tiger. The tiger had an empty stomach due to the fact that there was an open space in it.

“It looks like someone took the engine out of a car, “ said one viewer.

Photos by Valerie Graham

Iwanaga went on to explain her work saying, “ I’m employing and celebrating carnivores to further explore ideas of consumption and domestication. I found that I was interested in the interaction between the role of predator and prey. This work that I did is an investigation into how the wild and perhaps even dangerous animals can interact with the familiar and ordinary things in our lives”