Mo Ganji: Quagga | Quagga | Equus quagga quagga | No. EX 008/012 from work group 8/99

Quagga | Quagga | Equus quagga quagga (Extinct)

Mo Ganji turns toward the quagga — a plains-dwelling equid once inhabiting the grasslands of southern Africa — by letting the single line move toward essence rather than pattern, hybridity or historical curiosity. The line condenses the being into a reduced coherence, setting aside striping, taxonomy and visual distinction so that presence can surface without depiction. In Ganji’s understanding, the line does not belong to the quagga alone; it remains open, reminding us that every form is also a human concept provisionally placed upon a living continuum.

Equus quagga quagga is listed as Extinct (EX) on the IUCN Red List. The quagga, a subspecies of the plains zebra, disappeared in the late 19th century. The last known individual died in captivity at the Amsterdam Zoo in 1883. At the time of its extinction, the quagga was not recognized as distinct from other zebras, and its loss went largely unremarked.

The principal causes of extinction included intensive hunting for meat and hides, as well as large-scale habitat conversion for agriculture and livestock. Because quaggas were perceived as competitors with domestic animals and lacked any legal protection, they were eliminated rapidly and systematically. Their disappearance reflects how extinction can occur not through rarity, but through misclassification and neglect.

Ganji’s single line opens a space in which the quagga can be encountered beyond striping or genetic reconstruction. It allows the being to be perceived as a life erased before it was fully understood, suggesting how conceptual boundaries — what we name, value, or fail to distinguish — can determine whether a form of life is allowed to persist or quietly removed from the living world.