It’s time to be ready set go to “be the hope, be the light, be the love starting right now …”
from the song Ready, Set, Go by Royal Tailor
The “Year of the Rabbit” started January 22, 2023 (Chinese New Year) and lasts until February 9, 2024. In the Chinese zodiac, Rabbit is the fourth animal in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac signs. According to a China travel guide, “the rabbit is a tame creature representing hope and life for a long time. It is tender and lovely. The moon goddess Chang’e in the Chinese legend has a rabbit as her pet, which stimulates the thought that only this creature is amiable enough to match her noble beauty.”
I created my Rabbit suite in 2013. As a suite, they are called Ready – Set — Go! The first one – Ready or Rabbit I – takes after a large rabbit I had in my early twenties whom I called Bunny. Bunny was intrepid! After fathering many bunny babies, he became a documentary film star, and then retired to the country where he lived out a long and happy rabbit life.
I produced this suite of three drypoint rabbit images for a group exhibition called Just Animals that I co-curated at the Ottawa-Gatineau Printmakers Connective Gallery in 2013. The theme “just animals” can be interpreted in a number of ways, the most obvious that artists were being invited to submit prints with the subject of animals. From an animal advocacy perspective, it could also be a call for justice for animals. On a more philosophic level, just animals calls into question our perception of animals in relationship to humans. How many times have you heard “Oh, they’re just animals”? Animals today fulfill many roles: companion animals, food for humans, prey for predators, pests or threats, spectacles in shows and media (such as a magicians’ rabbit out of the hat), or just co-inhabitants of our neighbourhoods. Rabbits are interesting critters in that they fill all these roles.
Rabbits are known for their reproductive abilities – just think of Australia’s rabbit problem after the introduction of the European rabbit in 1859 so they could be hunted for sport (1). Despite the 200 million feral rabbits wreaking havoc in Australia, they are under ecological pressure in their native territories, as are many of the 108 lagomorph species on Earth (2). Lagomorphs (rabbits, hares and picas) are often keystone prey for other animals.
Happy Year of the Rabbit!
(1) National Geographic Society, “How European Rabbits Took Over Australia.”
(2) Emma Sharratt, “In the Year of the Rabbit, spare a thought for all these wonderful endangered bunny species,” The Conversation, January 19, 2023,