The Giant Bunny Invasion (PPAC #9)

A few years ago, there was a pop-up installation of giant inflatable rabbits around downtown LA. The installation titled “Intrude” was created by Tasmanian artist Amanda Parer. Aside from how fun it was to see rabbits in downtown LA, there was a deeper environmental message behind the rabbits. It made think about the plants not native to Southern California and the impact to its natural landscape.

More about the installation from Parer’s website:

Rabbits are an introduced species to Australia and have been causing great destruction and imbalance in the island continent’s delicate ecosystems since it was introduced by white settlers in 1788.

To Parer the rabbit also is an animal of contradiction, they represent the fairy tale animals from our childhood; a furry innocence, frolicking through idyllic fields. Intrude deliberately leans on this cutesy image coupled with a strong visual humour, to lure the audience into the artwork only to reveal the more serious environmental messages which form the basis of the work. They are huge, the size referencing “the elephant in the room”, the problem, like our impact on the natural world, big and in plain sight, but still chosen to be ignored.

Pre-COVID times: when it was ok to be less than six feet away from anything.

#PPAC9