Haseeb Ahmed

3D Sparta

23 seconds looping GIF
Non-fungible token
1920 × 1080 pixels
Open edition

Vultures were most commonly mentioned across cultures to reproduce solely with wind and to be exclusively female. Ahmed found no more appropriate way to work on new forms of conception than an animal commonly associated with both wind and fertility. While learning to paint with the wind in order to reveal its emotions, Ahmed also worked with an East African Vulture named Sparta whom he deemed a perfect mate, reflecting on his own escape from a history of arranged marriages only to become an arranger himself. After two years of involving Sparta in his research, Ahmed captured her in a 3D scan at the facilities of Inzert Graphics in the village of Hulshout, Belgium. Imagining the LED lights of the camera array to be the sun, she spread her wings to bask. In the render, at times her body is multiplied and the birds confer with one another around the face of the wind. The animal so closely associated with death now appears ghost-like and semi-transparent.