necking
acrylic on canvas
40x30"

original artwork: SOLD
reproductions starting at: $ 36

The story behind the artwork

A right of passage for male giraffes is a behavior known as “necking.” I witnessed this behavior while on safari in the Serengeti. Coming from an otherwise gentle creature, this technique for establishing dominance is astonishingly brutal. There is nothing gentle about the thwacking and thumping of enormous, muscular necks beating against one another in deliberate violent blows. It’s the surprising and unexpected nature of this activity that I find so worthy of contemplation. I’ll never be able to look into the long-lashed eyes of a giraffe again without seeing the animal as wild as it truly is.

I've incuded an excerpt from my journal and some video I captured of this necking behavior.
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