Lima Lives

“Lima Lives!” is a sound and video instal­la­tion, com­mis­sioned by Atlanta’s Flux Projects 2010. A col­lab­o­ra­tive effort with artists Ed and Linda Cal­houn, the piece cel­e­brates the life and spirit of Lima, a zebra, that escaped from the Rin­gling Broth­ers and Bar­num & Bai­ley Circus on Feb­ru­ary 18, 2010 and stopped traf­fic for forty min­utes in down­town Atlanta. He was later euth­a­nized because of sever hoof dam­age. The instal­la­tion com­bines real 911 tapes with a fic­tion­al­ized look at Lima’s early life as well as rov­ing pro­jec­tion through­out the city of Atlanta dur­ing the week lead­ing-up to FLUX 2010.

Wit abounded, some­times for its own sake, but more often as a vehi­cle for pro­vok­ing thought. The video “Lima Lives” a true-life Atlanta story about a run away circus zebra named Lima and the atten­dant absur­di­ties of police chas­ing “Perp 43” (to quote the police dis­patcher). It also evoked the poignancy of a caged animal’s life, par­tic­u­larly the voice-over about Lima try­ing to “go home.” It was not Lima’s first attempt for free­dom.