Sobering observations about the inequities of contemporary urban life are central to Slovenian artist Marjetica Potrč’s artistic practice. Sometimes described as an “urban anthropologist,” she creates works that explore global realities of shelter, poverty, and displacement.

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Potrc’s exploration of resourcefulness and the urban dispossessed expands to wildlife in a series of images collectively titled "Animal Sightings" (2001). A bear climbing a telephone pole or an alligator in a backyard swimming  pool are unnerving consequences of sprawling city development and its encroachment on the habitats of wildlife. “City space and its borders are permanent subjects of negotiation,” writes Potrc of these works that speak of the continuously shifting borders in contemporary cities. One of the most powerful images from this series is an image of a coyote trapped in an elevator.  This image of a panicked coyote was taken after the animal ran along Seattle’s downtown streets, ducked into a busy federal building and ran into an open elevator. Trapped in the elevator, a security camera took this photo of the coyote shortly before it was rescued by animal control.