Mo Ganji: Santa Catarina’s Guinea Pig | Santa-Catarina-Meerschweinchen | Cavia intermedia | No. 191/250 from work group 8/99

Mo Ganji draws attention to the Santa Catarina’s guinea pig — a small terrestrial rodent confined to a single coastal island — by letting the single line move toward the animal’s core rather than its familiarity or domestic associations. The line condenses the being into a reduced presence, releasing it from expectations attached to the idea of a “guinea pig.” In this act of reduction, the line remains open, acknowledging that what appears is a living entity before it becomes a category.

Cavia intermedia is listed as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List. Endemic to Moleques do Sul Island off the southern coast of Brazil, the species occupies one of the smallest ranges known for any mammal. Its entire global population is restricted to this tiny island, with numbers estimated in the low hundreds at most.

The principal threats include extreme geographic isolation, limited food resources, stochastic events such as storms, and the vulnerability inherent in very small populations. While the island is currently protected, the species’ restricted distribution leaves it highly susceptible to environmental change and random fluctuations. There is no alternative habitat should conditions deteriorate.

Ganji’s single line opens a space in which the guinea pig can be encountered beyond domestication or scale. It allows attention to rest on a life existing at the threshold of contingency, suggesting how survival can hinge not on adaptation or strength, but on the continued stability of a single, fragile place.