Sullivan Sweet

Natural Causes (2024)

Natural Causes photograph by Sullivan Sweet of an inflatable plastic snake winding across shelves of books, journals, and archival boxes.

Natural Causes is a photographic series examining how humans construct their relationship to the natural world. The project follows zoologists, field ecologists, birders, and hunters, documenting the tools and spaces that structure their work. The series considers the tension between study, care, and control.

In exhibition, prints were mounted without glass to reduce visual separation between viewer and subject. A grid of trail camera images was installed to echo early motion-sequence photography and emphasize surveillance, repetition, and capture.

Artist Statement

I see a deer head lying in the middle of the path where I walk every day. The deer looks perfectly alive, except for its missing body. The path is grassy and manicured, winding through an open field, along a river, and through several sparse patches of woods. At first, I noticed only a small clump of fur on the path up ahead. I did not recognize it as part of an animal until I got much closer. I lean over the head, observing the clean break at the neck and the bugs crawling out of its eyes. What I am witnessing seems both tragic and banal. I have seen dead animals before, mostly on the side of the road. I understand that nature revolves around cycles of life and death, yet I feel pain for this deer and wonder about the conditions of its demise. The illusion of security provided by the manicured path suddenly falls away. My world and the natural world converge; I realize that they are one and the same.

I decided to seek out these points of convergence between the human and natural world. I became curious about the conditions that expose the fragility of the human construct and allow me to experience the beauty and cruelty of the world as it really is. Where do these moments of convergence take place? Who else is seeking them out? How authentic are these experiences?

I met with hunters, taxidermists, field ecologists, zoologists, veterinarians, and outdoor hobbyists to investigate these questions. I set up a trail camera to document the wildlife that lives around me. I began to pay attention and notice more. What constitutes a genuine experience with nature, anyway? The afternoon sun beats down on my face. A bumblebee buzzes above my head. You and I, and everything around us, will eventually die. Which deaths will I mourn?

Natural Causes photograph of a hunter in camouflage kneeling beside two hunting dogs and a pickup truck at night. A dead raccoon lies on the back of the truck.
Natural Causes photograph of veterinary staff anesthetizing a small brown mammal on a stainless-steel examination table.
Natural Causes photograph of worn foam taxidermy animal forms arranged along a wall.
Natural Causes photograph of a man seated beside a large alligator with its mouth open in front of a weathered wooden barn.
Natural Causes photograph of birders spread across an open field as an outstretched arm points toward them in the foreground.
Natural Causes photograph of preserved owl and bird specimens laid on a black laboratory counter.
Natural Causes photograph of a hunter in camouflage and an orange cap carrying a shotgun through tall grass at night.
Natural Causes photograph of a taxidermy workshop with a raccoon pelt, hand tools, drill, notes, and supplies.
Natural Causes photograph of an artificial animal habitat with branches, heat lamps, rocks, a pond, and a painted jungle mural.
Installation view of Sullivan Sweet’s Natural Causes exhibition with framed photographs arranged across two white gallery walls.
Wide installation view of Natural Causes with framed color photographs and a grid of black-and-white trail-camera images.
Natural Causes installation detail pairing a nighttime hunter photograph, smaller animal image, and a trail-camera grid.
Natural Causes installation detail with veterinary, preserved-bird, and alligator photographs mounted without glass.
Natural Causes installation detail of a large two-wall grid of black-and-white trail-camera photographs of deer at night.

Installation photos by Phú Nguyễn

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