Hollow-Hare-Wallaby (2023)

Hollow-Hare-Wallaby is a virtual taxidermy of the Eastern hare-wallaby, a marsupial that became extinct in Australia in the late nineteenth century following ecological changes brought by European settlement. Existing today only through preserved specimens, prints, and drawings, the species survives as an image rather than a living animal. Created from a life-sized taxidermied specimen using computer graphics, the work reflects on extinction, memory, and the limits of human representation. By transforming an absent animal into a virtual presence, Rei Hayama invites viewers to consider how humanity imagines, preserves, and shapes its relationship with the nonhuman world. Set against the backdrop of Earth's sixth mass extinction, Hollow-Hare-Wallaby asks what traces humanity will leave behind, and whether we can learn to imagine the lives of beings beyond ourselves.

Commissioned by the Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions 2023.