by sam myers

This illustration represents the cruelty of the practice of bullfighting and how animals had to be submissive to humans. In bullfighting, the bulls were often abused and taken care of poorly purely for the purpose of human entertainment. People would pay a lot of money to go see bullfighting, therefore enhancing the profit and power of the organizations that abused animals. In the background illustration, the bull seems to be bowing down to the human, recognizing its place in the power structure. In this world where we as humans like to place ourselves above the status of animals, this picture perfectly represents that. Even though we are the same as any other animal, just flesh and bones, we still think that we are superior. However, like any other animal, our life is short and we all will succumb to the power of death at some point. Even if we are a dominant species, this superficial power structure we have created is only in our imagination. The other paintings and visuals in the college are also examples of how humans impose superiority over other systems in our world. The Beltrame painting depicts the stealing of the Mona Lisa, which highlights human greed. The people who stole the painting only cared about money and were imposing their superiority over Da Vinci. Then the Monet painting of the Gare Saint-Lazare train station in Paris and the background picture of trash present a juxtaposition related to the industrial revolution. The Monet painting represents the progress that we made as a society because of the industrial revolution. We invented new forms of high-speed travel and ways to connect as a society more easily. However, in the process, we hurt ecosystems and animals all around the world, again imposing our superiority over them. As we move forward through the Anthropocene, we must recognize how the actions that we think are advancing the human race affect other animals. Since the industrial revolution, we have continued to destroy habitats in the name of human advancement. After that, the illustration of the brain of AI depicts the next step in human advancement. We are creating a tool that is smarter than us but does not always reflect our humanity. Even though we do many cruel things as a species, we also show care and compassion and have unique personalities. Since AI only predicts human actions, it cannot surpass us in humanity, but only in intelligence. We also have to think about what this does to animals and the world around us. We can use AI to help us solve the Climate Change crisis, but we can also use it to continue destroying the planet. Lastly, the Hamilton painting depicts Prospero relinquishing his magic, making the choice regarding whether he wants ultimate control and domination over the situations he is going through. In The Tempest, Prospero decides “The pine and cedar: graves at my command. Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let ’em forth. By my so potent art. But this rough magic. I here abjure” (Shakespeare, 63). Here Prospero has control over everything on the island due to his magic, but he suddenly decides to let go of that control. This encapsulates the human experience because as a species we need to decide what we should do with the power that we have. Currently, we are using it to hurt other animals, but like Prospero, we can decide to relinquish that power if it causes harm to others. This is similar to the Bodies Tumbled into Bodies piece which states, “Modern human activities have also exposed the crucial and ancient forms of the monstrosity that modernity tried to extinguish: the multispecies entanglements that make life across the earth, as in the coral reef, flourish.” This presents another example of how our actions have wide consequences that we don’t think about on a regular basis. This relates to the middle of the center panel of Bosch’s painting, where humans are riding around on all sorts of animals. Here, the humans have asserted their dominance over nature and have taken away any power from the animals. This is clear in both a literal and metaphorical sense, since the humans are literally above the animals, and are also using the animals for their own pleasure. These themes raise questions as we enter the age of the Anthropocene, where the “normal” that we take for granted now will be gone. Species will constantly be going extinct as the planet starts to become less habitable for life. Throughout the industrial revolution, we took advantage of our natural resources for our own benefit, forgetting about the ecosystems that could be harmed. It was a time of great discovery, but we ignored the vulnerable through that process. We now have fast transportation and can just turn on lights with the flick of a switch, but who are we harming in the process?