Born in Germany to a mother of Jewish descent and an Iraqi father, Lin May Saeed (1973, Würzburg – 2023, Berlin) focused on the relationship between humans and animals as well as the destruction of the habitat of the animal world by humans – from the Neolithic period to nowadays. Her sculptures, reliefs, gates and installations address the exploitation of animals, their liberation, the utopia of a peaceful coexistence between animals and humans as well as the self-seeking meanness of the latter.

Saeed’s works are mostly made of so-called ‘poor materials’ such as styrofoam, cardboard or tool steel. Her iconographic frame of reference includes Egyptian statuary, Greco-Roman sculpture and natural history museum displays, amongst others. She was drawn to styrofoam due to its essentially unattractive and difficult nature, which she sought to aesthetically redeem, despite and because of its essentially ruinous use of and impact upon nature. Generally speaking, Saeed’s work becomes especially relevant in our post-enlightenment, Anthropocene paradigm, where the relationship between the so-called natural world and humanity is being radically re-evaluated. Nevertheless, Saeed’s works are not doctrinal nor do they have a moralising undertone. They are rather narrative and not without humor.