Through my paintings, I hope to reinforce our connection to other living beings and remind us of the fragility of life. It is my hope that we recognize ourselves as the betta, and our world as a plastic cup.

1. Brienna McLaughlin Pruce http://brienna.net

2. Confinement acrylic on canvas, 47" x 47" 2007

3. A crowntail displays its fins to fight a dead fish. acrylic on canvas, 47" x 47" 2007

4. Their colors live outside their contained existence acrylic on canvas, 35" x 47" 2007

5. Male and female betta oil on canvas, 48" x 66" 2006

6. Betta fish are considered disposable items that can be checked out, returned (dead), and discarded much like cheap plastic toys.

7. Water dyed blue oil on canvas, 47" x 47" 2006

8. Stacked to the ceiling oil on canvas, 95" x 54" 2006

9. Fish are foreign, and we have difficulty feeling sorry for something other than ourselves. oil on canvas, 54" x 190" 2007

10. Magnifying bettas to human scale and portraying their environment from a fish eye perspective provokes the question: what if that dying fish were me?

11. The beginning and the end mixed media, 10" x 10" 2007

12. Inside their world mixed media, 10" x 10" 2007

13. Bettas stored in picnic cups mixed media, 10" x 10" 2007

14. Prices on a blue tank mixed media, 10" x 30" 2007

15. Isolated amidst many mixed media, 10" x 10" 2007

16. The betta fish signify the trapped and suffering animals of the world.

17. Little living paintings mixed media, 10" x 10" 2007

18. One empty tank mixed media, 10" x 10" 2007

19. Betta Tanks I mixed media, 10" x 30" 2007

20. Betta Tanks II mixed media, 10" x 30" 2007

21. Fish in glass bowls mixed media, 10" x 10" 2007

22. Fish in plastic cups mixed media, 10" x 10" 2007

23. The betta is the overlooked, forgotten animal, merely appreciated for superficial aesthetic qualities; it represents all of our shallowness and pain.

24. Fish Eye VI mixed media, 10" x 10" 2006

25. Fish Eye VIII mixed media, 6" x 6" 2006

26. Fish Eye X mixed media, 10" x 10" 2007

27. Their existence is a plastic cup with barely enough water to survive.

28. Fish Eye XII mixed media, 10" x 10" 2007

29. Fish Eye XIII mixed media, 10" x 10" 2007

30. Fish Eye XIV mixed media, 10" x 10" 2007

31. Through my paintings, I hope to reinforce our connection to other living beings and remind us of the fragility of life.

32. The manager said, “Next time, call before visiting so I can move the betta fish into tanks because people often get upset by images of fish in cups.” mixed media, 10" x 10" 2007

33. A child found a fish wedged between the tank dividers, dying. mixed media, 10" x 10" 2007

34. Someone asked, “Which one do you want to save?” mixed media, 10" x 10" 2007

35. Our own living and working environments are not much better with apartments stacked sky-high and claustrophobic cubicles providing barely enough room to move. acrylic on canvas, 95" x 54" 2007

36. It is my hope that we recognize ourselves as the betta, and our world as a plastic cup.