|
| |
|
|
|
|
We Animals is an ambitious project which documents, through photography, animals in
the human environment. The project began in 1998 when I was becoming more aware of the abuses animals
suffer at the hands of humans. The title is intentionally broad in subject matter, interpretation
and implication. The premise of the project is that humans are as much animal as the sentient beings
we use for food, clothing, research, experimentation, work, entertainment, slavery and companionship.
The goal of the project is to break down the barriers that humans have built which allow us to treat
non-human animals as objects and not as sentient beings.
Though I began shooting subject matter that close to home - companion animals, zoos, meat markets, etc,
the project has grown significantly in scope, to the point that much of it is now being photographed globally.
The "human environment", after all, has grown to reach all corners of the globe. We humans claim these
spaces as our own as well as the creatures that inhabit them. My objective has been to photograph our
interactions with animals in such a way that the viewer finds new significance in these ordinary, often
unnoticed situations of use, abuse and sharing of spaces.
Since the conception of the project, stories and photographs for We Animals have been shot in over 20
countries. Most recently, I've added to the book's scope by shooting the issue of bear bile farming in
Asia, live markets in Vietnam, as well as animals used for entertainment in Thailand. Upcoming for 2008
and early 2009 are shoots at primate sanctuaries and a vivisection laboratory in the United States, a
trip to China to document the myriad animal rights infringements occurring there, as well as two months
in Cameroon, doing a story about the Cameroon Wildlife Aid Fund and their amazing work with primate rescue
and rehabilitation.
|
|
