My decision to bring sheep into the Academy gardens reflects my environmental concerns and calls attention to some of our misplaced priorities. When pitted against the pristine environment of the Academy the sheep were intended to create a strong paradox, usually inherent in my art.

My work breaks through the boundaries of art and deals with ecological, cultural and social issues. I map human evolution, create social structures and metaphors for our time. These philosophy and science based, large-scale environmental projects range between individual creation and social consciousness.

I plant forests on mined land, in soil destroyed by resource extraction, to be kept alive for centuries, and plant fields of grain in the heart of megacities. These works establish a non-ego based art form that benefit future generations with a meaningful legacy.

During my year as a Fellow at the American Academy in Rome I was researching the Rise and Fall of Complex Societies with emphasis on where we stand, and how our civilization may react to severe changes in order to survive.

The focus of my art is my deep-rooted interest in human evolution, sustainable development, ecology and the survival of endangered species. Even though sheep are not yet endangered, they are intended to represent all animals and plants that go on that list daily. Besides the loss of animal and plant species, the concerns include the loss of cropland due to erosion caused by tree cutting, desertification due to overgrazing, soil depletion, urban expansion, etc.

The sheep is a symbol, from the lamb of St. Agnes to the recent cloning of Dolly, bringing to mind the possible implications of genetic engineering which may range from beneficial to outrageous, from disastrous to sublime. Ours is the first species with the ability to consciously control its own evolution and its destiny. What a challenge, what a responsibility.

The sheep also suggest today's humanity, racing without seeing an objective, running and being pushed without the ability to think clearly, freely, objectively and then act on a vision. The entire herd is racing, plunging headlong in this direction or that, without plan or perspective.

For the first time in human history the whole earth is becoming one interdependent society with our interests, needs and problems intertwined and interfering. The threads of existence have become so tightly interwoven that one pull in any direction can distort the whole fabric, affecting millions of threads, just as a noise or command can cause a herd of sheep to change course and charge in the opposite direction. All processes and numbers have accelerated, and the world seems to be ruled by sheer momentum.

Our explosive success, vast numbers, and the resources we consume create imbalances affecting all other life-forms on earth. The genetic evolution of these life-forms is much slower than our cultural evolution and cannot keep up with the changes we have created. The normal balances of nature no longer control us. Since we have deviated from all previous life-forms, there are no precedents for our behavior. Our acceleration is so recent and so rapid that we have had no time to contemplate the consequences. We simply do not know what happens in a world run by human logic that is beyond the ordinary laws of nature.

I shall not list the multitude of other associations that come to mind with the sheep, but allow people to interact, giving free rein to their imagination as to what these animals might mean in today's world.

© Copyright 1998 Agnes Denes