Monument for the Quagga

In this first-ever biography, Reinier Spreen tells the astonishing story of the half-striped South African zebra that went extinct in 1883.


Because of its ambiguous appearance, we never knew what to do with the quagga. We called it a wild donkey, a female mountain zebra, a mongrel! From the very first sightings in the 17th century and well into our time, absolute confusion reigned. Only in 2004 scientists agreed on the quagga's place in the animal kingdom.


Monument for the quagga is a confronting black comic parable. The quagga shows how hopelessly lost we are when an animal refuses to be caught by our paper definitions and categories.


“SUBLIME” – Dutch national newspaper Trouw


Now out in an English translation with almost 50 images.