Patrick Fuery
Patrick Fuery is a professor and Director of the Center for Creative and Cultural Industries at Wilkinson College of Arts in California. He received a grant for “Rewilding and the Invisible,” which aimed to explore the concept, philosophy, and actions of rewilding through an awareness of the “invisible” presence of animals. He writes:
As humanity becomes more isolated and removed from the wild, strategies are needed to re-engage with those very elements—broadly animals, and the exemplar here of the wolf—that are crucial to this rebalancing. The distance humanity has acquired from wilderness has come at the cost of a diminishing natural world and a loss of our own inner sense of the wild.
Since receiving the grant, Patrick presented his research at the Green Institute Conference “Nature is Calling” conference (June 2021) and the United Nations’ International Conference on Sustainable Development (September 2021). As for his original goal with the project, Patrick took college students and faculty to the Wolf Connection sanctuary in Palmdale, California. While there, they focused on the ways human interactions with wildlife impact our understandings of ourselves, particularly through “wolf therapy.” Additionally, Patrick had his students engage and learn about the social work done by the organization itself.
Another CAF grantee who is concerned about the disappearance of wolves in North America is installation artist and 2022 CAF grantee, Lauren Strohacker. You can watch her mesmerizing and evocative visualization of the disappearance and reappearance of the red wolf. Patrick’s interest in predators is also shared with Matilde Cassano, who researches the historical perception of bears and wolves in the Italian Alpine regions.
You can also watch Patrick’s discussion with Lauren on wolves in the American landscape and imagination, with 2023 CAF Navab Fellow Tymesha-Elizabeth Kindell.
