Bright Eyes: Portraits of Red-Eyed Rabbits

Bright Eyes is a series of painted portraits of adoptable albino rabbits I have encountered over the last two years at the SPCA Serving Erie County. Due to a recessive gene, they lack pigment called melanin and as a result, they have a clear iris which appears red. Historically associated with cosmetic and chemical lab testing, the same selective breeding that created a generally docile and easy to handle lab animal makes these bunnies wonderful companion animals. However, red-eyed white bunnies or “Rews” are consistently the last to find forever homes in shelters across the country as well as in Western New York.

This project hopes to give dignity to and strengthen empathy for bunnies who overcome so much just to get to the adoption floor only to be overlooked because their eyes are different or they look “too plain.” This series challenges human misconceptions of albino bunnies as both ominous and invisible, shifting the viewer’s perspective through heroic scale and strategic use of color including a fluorescent glow on the edge of the panels mirroring an albino rabbit’s sensitivity to light and embracing their ethereal ruby eyes.

I am grateful to the SPCA Serving Erie County for their support of this project and for the work that they do. As a result of the awareness created by this body of artwork, I hope to decrease the amount of time that Red-Eyed White rabbits wait to be adopted.