The Story Behind "Lanes, Lines & Lives"

Lanes, Lines & Lives

Florida Panther

40 x 40 in | Graphite on Yupo | 2025

The Florida Panther stands as one of the most endangered mammals in North America, with an estimated 120–230 individuals remaining in the wild. Habitat loss, road mortality, and inbreeding continue to threaten the species’ survival. Of these pressures, roads are the most lethal: collisions with vehicles are the leading cause of panther deaths, with dozens killed each year.

This drawing confronts the role of highways in shaping, and endangering, the Florida Panther’s existence. The road fractures the landscape in one direction and twists upward into the sky in another, reflecting how human infrastructure has disrupted and inverted the panther’s natural world.

A male panther typically requires 200 square miles of territory, while a female needs about 75 square miles. Roads that cut through these territories fragment vital habitat, forcing panthers into shrinking corridors and directly into conflict with vehicles. The road becomes both a literal and symbolic marker of vulnerability and oblivion—a reminder that the panthers survival is bound to the patterns of human development.