Zebra in the Redwoods
Life-sized fiberglass zebra
At first glance, Zebra in the Redwoods reads like a moment stolen from a surreal dream—a wild creature paused in the hush of a Californian grove. Yet this life-sized fiberglass zebra is neither lost nor out of place; it is a deliberate interruption, a visual riddle posed against the backdrop of nature’s grandeur. The work invites the viewer to confront the delicate threshold between the natural and the artificial, the authentic and the staged.
In an age when our experiences of the world are increasingly mediated through screens and surfaces, Zebra in the Redwoods questions the trust we place in images to define what is real. The photograph of the installation—its own reproduction of an imitation—doubles the illusion, turning the scene into both spectacle and critique. What does it mean to “see” nature when the very act of seeing is filtered through representation?
This work draws attention to how easily perception is constructed, and how our collective understanding of truth—moral, social, and political—is often rooted in such constructions. By pairing the fabricated zebra with the living redwood, the piece holds a mirror to contemporary culture’s uneasy relationship with authenticity and simulation. Between the stillness of the tree and the frozen grace of the animal, the viewer is left to wonder: where does reality end, and its image begin?