“My Hamster Consumes Art” is my first contact with photography as a final piece. My previous experience with photography  was only with the purpose of recording and documenting my sculptures. Being so out of my comfort zone I had doubts about every decision I have done and I even got to a point when I wanted to abandon the project. The idea started about 3 o’clock in the morning as I was reading something for the Cultural and Supporting Studies essay. Seating next to the hamster’s cage he woke up and starts running around. I gave him a drawing that I had around and he started to chew the paper.

       That was the moment when the name of the work appeared into my head- my hamster consumes art. In this context “art” refers to a drawing. I wanted to refer to art in general or to more than one practice so as I was sitting next to the kitchen I thought about a carved carrot in shape of the word “art”. The hamster was not only eating the carved carrot that can be considered a form of art itself but the “art” as a word, as a comune understood language.

    The next step was the outcome of consumption. If we refer to consumption as a synonym for the word “eating”,the outcome could be the feces. I started to think about a second work that could complete the photographs- a shelf with hamster feces. The name of the second work comes from a more metaphoric approach of the word “consumption”.  If the hamster consumes art, mentally, the outcome could be “knowledge”. The second work is called “is that knowledge?”.

Using an interrogative title, I think the work connects more direct with the viewer, asking him something, automaticly waiting for an answer. Using a different media than photography give my a bit more confidence to carry on with this project even though it was still something new for me- working conceptual. Considering health and safety issues, instead of using actual feces I used hamster food which looks like “the real deal”. I was preferring to use real hamster feces but I was relying on the human mind and “easy association”- seeing pictures with hamsters next to  few brown droplets on a narrow white shelf would automatically give the idea of feces.

  The fact that I needed the work done for the corridor exhibition which meant a close deadline made me not to think too much and I just got on with it.