Wild rabbits have become part of the landscape in Australia since being introduced during colonisation for hunting, food and fur. Sweet but prolific, they’ve pushed out native species and destroyed vegetation, becoming the world’s most successful invasive mammal species. They are shot, trapped, fumigated, have their warrens destroyed and have been met with numerous rounds of biological warfare. Their history here in a short couple of centuries is complex and painful on multiple sides.

This young rabbit was shot by a hobby hunter. My heart sat sunken making the mould connecting with this small animal and thinking about the consequences of human interference in this landscape over the last couple hundred years. Cast clear, they are both invisible and ever-present as they absorb the light and colour around them.

Rebecca Selleck is a Canberra-based artist with a focus on interactive sculpture and installation, blending animatronics, assemblage, casting and sound. She completed her Bachelor of Visual Arts at the ANU School of Art with First Class Honours, majoring in Sculpture and Art Theory, and also holds a Bachelor of Communications, majoring in Creative Writing and Literary Studies. She uses her practice to reciprocally investigate and challenge her own perceptions within a culture of conflicting truths. Her work overlays time and place to express the need for human accountability and the painful complexity of animal and environmental ethics in Australia.

She is the recipient of multiple awards, including the prestigious Peter and Lena Karmel Anniversary Prize for best graduating student at the ANU School of Art, and has exhibited across Australia and in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and Venice, Italy. She was a finalist in the inaugural 2017 Ramsay Art Prize at the Art Gallery of South Australia and in 2018 the Arte Laguna Prize in Venice, Italy; the Macquarie Art Prize; the Ravenswood Art Prize (Highly Commended); and the Churchie Art Prize. Her work is currently held in public collections at the Museum of Australian Democracy, Parkes ACT, Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo NSW, Bendigo Art Gallery, VIC, and Shepparton Art Museum, VIC.