The American Dream carries with it a connotation of hope, maybe nestalgia for some, but some people have argued that the American Dream no longer exists.

Elephants for a long time have been looked at as a commodity, at least by some. The people who poach them for their ivory horns look at elephants, and rhinos as well, and see dollar signs. Much like people from all over the world see America... the land of opportunity.

The domestication and efforts to save animals is somewhat interesting to me because we are saving animals from ourselves. Though it stems from different individuals, people are generalized and put into one broad category. So even though we try to save animals from our direct poaching, we forget that the house we live it, the streets we drive on, the food and resources we consume all have effected animals in the areas we inhabit. The relationship we have with our surrounding nature and the constant building, developing, expanding, etc is a growing issue that seems to go unnoticed in comparison.

“The American Dream”

2017 (48”x60”) Acrylic on canvas