Catharine Clark Gallery continues its Spring 2026 program with the group exhibition Run Fast, Bite Hard: An Exhibition on Human-Animal Hybrids, Companion Species, Technoscience, and Even a Few Cyborgs, curated by Anton Stuebner, Partner and Director at the gallery.
Writing on the theme of “companion species” for a series and exhibition of the same name in 2017, gallery artist Marie Watt noted that “Seneca and Haudenosaunee (People of the Long House) people believe animals to be our First Teachers. From this viewpoint, it is interesting to consider how other cultures hold their relationship with animals, and by extension, the greater natural world. The concept of companion species addresses the reciprocal relationship humans have with nature, and our responsibilities as responsive stewards”.
Watt cites cultural theorist Donna Haraway’s research, and Haraway’s coining of this term, as integral to her own creative consideration of how we relate to the non-human world. Haraway posits that while humans have significant relationships with non-human entities—particularly those in the natural world—companion species are those with which humans have a true interdependency. This concept moves away from the idea that humans are at the center of the universe, suggesting instead that we “co-evolve” with animals—that we shape each other’s history and biology.
The works on view in the exhibition explore these deep connections—considering hybridity, ecosystems, and the blurred lines between nature and culture (and perhaps even a few cyborgs).
Read the full press release via PDF.
