This painting was created en plein air during Art Gone Wild (2016) at Zoo Atlanta based on observations of the western lowland gorillas there. My visit was only days after the tragedy at the Cincinnati Zoo. I studied several of the gorillas in Atlanta, a few of which are included in the drawings section. However, this young gorilla’s pose captured the solemness I felt in the wake of the event involving Harambe. This is one of my largest paintings to date. I chose to really give focus to the gorilla in this work and left the background in a light wash of acrylics.