“Bring Back the Extinct Northern White Rhino” is an inflatable sculpture, by artist Victoria Fuller. She received a partial grant from The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events of Chicago to make this sculpture. Not knowing much about inflatables, she worked with fabricators from Promotional Design Group to create her design, and see her vision realized.

The inflatable sculpture inflates and deflates, on a cycle every few minutes. When deflated we are reminded that it is extinct; Inflated, references the magnificence of the species, when it was alive, and the attempt to bring it back, through “artificial reproductive techniques,” with frozen sperm and eggs implanted in a closely related subspecies. The inflation and deflation is also like inhaling and exhaling lungs, symbolizing the breath of life.

Printed Inflatable material, blower machine, and timer.
13’ x 5.5’ x 4’
2020