Domestic Animals: Joey I

"Domestic Animals" focuses on the intimate and complex interdependence between pets and their owners within the domestic domain. While investigating divisions between species, I also discover an intriguing sense of equality between pets and their owners.

"Domestic Animals" visually and contextually explores the anthropomorphic qualities that people assign to their pets under the aegis of play, obedience and nurturing. Within this visual exploration, aspects of human nature are reflected through peoples’ animals and vice-versa. The medium of photography has allowed me to enter a large number of homes where a very personal interaction, the established relationship between pet and pet owner is directly and indirectly communicated to me and I am able to capture the junctures of each relationship. These intrinsically personal relationships are deliberately depicted within the pet and pet owner’s domain – a space that is common and mundane – where such relationships occur privately and are not normally expected or seen by the public.

The outcome has revealed intriguing conceptual and artistic results and as such, has made visible the unseen, often quirky and intimate connections that people have with their pets. Even though there remains a division between species, their roles and sometimes indistinct hierarchies within the domestic domain, this is rarely the division between beings that might be expected.