What Is Seen Is Never Whole

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What Is Seen Is Never Whole
Charcoal on Canson Montval 300gsm
70cm x 90cm


This is probably my favourite image from the entire collection.

I think it is because, every time I look at it, I see something slightly different.

The first thing I notice is the eye.

That gaze again.

There is something about the way a zebra looks at you that is difficult to ignore. Even when almost none of the animal is visible, the gaze gives it an extraordinary presence.

But then my eye moves away from the eye.

I notice the small section of mane.

And then the stripes.

They begin to become something else.

For a moment, I am no longer looking at the markings of a zebra. I am looking at lines and shapes that seem to create their own landscape.

They rise and fall.

They move across the page.

They create hills and valleys, shadows and spaces.

And yet, somehow, I never lose sight of the animal.

This is something I find fascinating about photographing and drawing wildlife.

We often think of a portrait as showing us the whole subject.

But perhaps it doesn't have to.

Sometimes a fragment can tell us something that a complete view cannot.

A single eye can hold a gaze.

A small piece of mane can suggest the presence of the animal beyond the frame.

A few stripes can become a landscape.

And the more I look, the more I become aware of everything that isn't there.

The rest of the face.

The body.

The landscape surrounding it.

The moment immediately before the photograph was taken, and the moment immediately afterwards.

I can never know all of it.

None of us can.

What we see is always a fragment of something larger.

Perhaps that is why I keep returning to this image.

It reminds me that observation is never about possessing the whole story.

It is about being attentive to the small part that is revealed.

And sometimes, within that small part, there is an entire world.

What is seen is never whole.

But perhaps it doesn't need to be.


Continue exploring


Collected Moments of Survival
Explore the drawings, stories and book behind the project.
[Explore the project ]


Original artwork
Original works from the series are available to reserve ahead of the December exhibition.
[View available works ]


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Held Against Time

Location: Namibia

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