The drawings and paintings
of Caroline Fulton
are portraits,
animal portraits.
These portraits are
an attempt
to confront the term animal
used by people
to signify the
notion
of an absolute other:
whatever lives on earth,
which is not me,
as a human.

Caroline’s work is
a rejection of generality
and an exploration and embracing of personality
and particularism,
extended to the other life forms
with which we share
our planet.

The paintings depict each subject
within different families of beings
and evoque
the presence of these individuals
which have names,
therefore a soul
and a story.

Human cultural elements are referenced
as part of the pictorial habitat,
providing a contextual framework for
each species she devotes a series to;
Elephants woven into a collage of Indian motifs,
or Rhinos coloured by the pattern making
of Southern Africa.

Living presently in Morocco
Caroline has most recently focused
on the ubiquitous
Donkeys and Camels.
These portraits typically show
the subject within
an environment of
the Beber carpet patterns and intircate plaster
and tile work
found in Moroccan
homes and streets.

While the paintings immediately strike one
with their richly
decorative aesthetic,
the symbolic colouration
and traditional ornamentation
is deliberately employed
to create an atmosphere
that expresses and reveals
the soulfulness
of each Animal subject,
conveying a sense of both their
familiarity and exile
in a predominantly
human world.