Extinction and resurrection: Marguerite Humeau's animals, between myth and science

Abstract

More than extinct species, the creatures invented by French sculptor Marguerite Humeau are resurrected species. The artist envisions a parallel universe that exists after the great stories of collapse and extinction, influenced by environmental destruction and climate change. This imagined world has seen humans disappear and prehistorical beasts come back to life, some even with human abilities. Marguerite Humeau’s sculptures and installations tell stories which take as their starting point a scientific discovery. Helped by scientists in genetics, biology… Marguerite Humeau “reactivates the imagery of collapse, and the aesthetics of extinction”. Her decentered way of thinking the human’s relation to their environment is linked to the theoretical framework of the Brazilian anthropologist Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, and more precisely “multinaturalism and perspectivism”. Marguerite Humeau questions the mysteries of humanity at the edge of history, biology and myths, and offers alternative ways to think about the notion of Anthropocene. By analysing some of these speculative works of art, between environmental humanities and art history, we will see how the artist manages to give shape to an aesthetics of extinction and collapse.