When New York Times reporter, Sam Anderson, learned of the death of the last male northern white rhino, he flew to Kenya to spend a week with the last two survivors of the species: two females, mother and daughter, were entering into what we know as »functional extinction«. When they die, the line will be over. Anderson describes the daily lives of Fatu and Najin who, indifferent to their fate, graze under the sun of the reserve where they will be guarded from hunters until they die. This picture portrays life for life’s sake, as the only function of these individuals is to live, to attest the existence of a species that belongs to the past.

In ›The Very Last Northern White Rhino‹, Gaston Core imagines these huge mammals as terribly fragile creatures, their bodies irreplaceable like pieces of a living museum. Knowing that the northern white rhino will disappear with these two individuals, we no longer see a safari animal, but a terribly human creature, and we are confronted with our own destiny. The fact that they still exist and occupy space turns the individual into a symbol of his species, and suddenly, by analogy, a man on stage into a symbol of mankind.

As part of the Spring Festival! 

Read the NY Times article The Last Two Northern White Rhinos on Earth

Concept & Direction: Gaston Core Choreography: Gaston Core in collaboration with the dancer Performed by: Oulouy Collaboration: Aina Alegre Photo & Video: Alice Brazzit Music: Jorge de Rocha Lights: Ivan Cascon Styling: Eva Bernal Technical care: Manu Ordenavia Production: Pam Pincheira Co-produced by: Sala Hiroshima & Festival GREC of Barcelona With the support of: Centre Cívic Barceloneta