Jim Lee

Let Us Prey: Verses I and II

Let Us Prey: Verses I and II were created in late 2020 as part of Opulence, Decadence, a show about abundance curated by William Paul Thomas at Lump Projects in Raleigh, NC

These two pieces are reflections on the dark side of abundance. Abundance doesn’t just appear. It must be accumulated (read as: mined, harvested, or hunted) from existing resources that are always limited by natural laws and systems of interdependence. We are, by nature or by acquiescence, predators who consume our prey. Something, plant or animal, must die for us to live. We facilitate the regeneration of living resources so that we may kill again. We call it farming and harvesting. Even grocery shopping is soft-core predation. The eggshells, symbolic of life taken with intention and precision, are arranged in a quasi-coded form of verses from a fictitious ancient Yaiovumic civilization. The ossuaries speak for themselves.

Let us Prey. Verse I, Feast: "Our feasts begin with death and celebration. We feed on taken lives."

Let us Prey. Verse II, Famine: "Some beings perish in times of famine. Others flourish by consuming remains."