Why Look at Animals?

I like to take photos of animals. I recently read two essays that got me thinking about animals differently. “Why Look at Animals” written in 1974 by John Berger, and “Lancelot” by Elena Passarello (2016) are both about a sense of loss regarding modern human interaction with animals. Berger’s essay is about humans’ loss of the time when “animals constituted the first circle of what surrounded man.” Berger talks about the gaze between man and animal, and what he surmises each see and experience in that exchange. He suggests that consumerism and the industry have altered this relationship to the point where we don’t even see animals anymore (and that was in 1974!). We have lost something vital to our species. Passarello’s essay is about her own childhood experience fostering a “warped” view of animals. She grew up surrounded by images of animals: advertisements, toys, and fabric prints depicting animals. She went to a zoo as a child and barely noticed the actual animals housed there for all of the other entertainment offered to make up for the marginalized and somewhat lackluster “real” animals.

These essays and others that I have read since have helped me become more attuned to noticing the interactions between humans and the animals, both real and fake, that live near us. I DO feel a sense of loss when looking at the animals that are in proximity to me. I shudder when I think of what the term “farm animal” means in this day and age. I look at counterfeit animals and real ones; pet animals and wild animals living in urban areas, and I wonder about what they see when they look back. 
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This idea is a relatively new project for me, and it is very much “in progress” (not done!). Thanks for looking.