MEMPHIS, TENN.- Are rabbits environmentally destructive or the source of whimsy and delight? Amanda Parer’s public art installation, Intrude, brings both concepts to light in the spectacle-sized work that has traveled across North America. Intrude makes its next stop at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, where it is now on view January 18 – 29. Intrude, which has been seen on four continents, in over 50 cities by more than a million people, is the second in the museum’s Brooks Outside public art series.

Intrude, on view on the Brooks’ grounds in Overton Park, features five giant, illuminated, inflated rabbits; the largest being over 23 feet tall. Created by Australian artist Amanda Parer (b. 1971), the installation’s initial appearance was at the 2014 Vivid Festival of Light in Sydney, Australia. Since then, Intrude has fascinated audiences around the world making stops in such places as the United Kingdom, France, Canada, the U.A.E., and South Korea.

“It is an honor to bring my work to Memphis—this city is a legend to me. I'd like to thank the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art for their enthusiasm and support and thank Memphis for all they’ve given me and the world,” said Parer. “I’m considering this showing of Intrude a cultural exchange and hope my giant glowing rabbits fill your city with wonder. My work and Memphis have one thing in common—there’s a lot to talk about lingering right below the surface!”

The rabbit is an animal of contradiction. Rabbits, more affectionately referred to as bunnies, represent the fairytale animal from our childhood—a furry innocence, frolicking through idyllic fields. However, rabbits in Parer’s native Australia are out of control pests, leaving a trail of ecological destruction wherever they go and defying attempts at eradication. First introduced by white settlers in 1788 they have caused a great imbalance to the country’s endemic species.

The artist has created the rabbits unrealistically huge not just for the captivating visual but because their size represents “the elephant in the room”—the large environmental issue caused by rabbits. Intrude deliberately evokes an image of innocence, and a strong visual humor. Parer says this is to lure audiences into the art and then reveal the more serious ecological message. Andria Lisle, the site curator for Brooks Outside: Intrude, feels that the temporary installation will work well at the Brooks’ location in Overton Park, which was designed by prominent landscape architect George Kessler as part of the Memphis Parks System in 1901.

”It’s important to our mission that the art installations presented by the Brooks captivate audiences visually but also be the impetus for critical thinking and learning about concepts and issues outside of our own culture and environment,” said the museum’s Executive Director Emily Ballew Neff. “We want people to come out and enjoy how adorable these bunnies are, but we also hope from an educational viewpoint, this installation will stimulate critical thinking about our ecology.”