You've Got Mail

Gissel Munoz

This sculptural work focuses on animal trafficking, along the Mexico-United States border. While conducting research on this issue, I came across a press release about a man named Jorge Alonso Gutierrez, a citizen of Mexico who was sentenced to three years in prison in 2021 for smuggling in protected reptiles from Mexico into the United States.

Once the wildlife from Mexico was in the United States, they were shipped to their customer via the U.S. Postal Service or Fedex, resulting in many of these animals dying during transportation. By using a mixture of clay, paint, cardboard and foil, I am able to recreate in scale some of the animals affected and give you a glimpse into this multi-million-dollar scheme. The three animals depicted in this work include baby spider monkeys, toucans and sea cucumbers, and are only some of the hundreds of animals affected by this issue. Through this work I intend to show that animal trafficking is not a problem happening on the other side of the world, but happening here, right under our noses.

About the Artist

As a mixed media artist my recent work aims to bring awareness about the problems occurring in our environment and to encourage others to be more aware about the world around them. By exploring different mediums, I am able to tell a story about the state of the natural world and evoke feelings of fear or sadness of future realities. In my works, I tend to be heavily inspired by the natural world around me because it is something that I have always loved to explore since I was a child. As I continued this exploration growing up, I became more aware of the dangers that this world faces. As we continue to grow into a more technologically advanced society, I feel like we are slowly losing touch with the natural world around us. As I continue to explore my potential as an artist, I will also try to forge this connection, between the human and natural world, suturing these back together through my work.