BY THE BALLS
This project was born when I arrived at the pet shelter. The reasons the dogs were abandoned stunned me: “eats everything” or “destroys all” listed as legitimate excuses; the larger dogs impounded, assumed dangerous, because of their size. Humans are hardwired to discriminate, and I wanted to address this in a less obvious way.
I gave sports balls to all sorts of breeds—Yorkshire, border collie, french bulldog, Maltese—and the results were unexpected. A chihuahua will rip apart a giant leather ball, while a Bordeaux mastiff leaves a ping-pong ball nearly intact. The beauty of the ‘destroyed’ objects fascinated me; the leather like torn tissue, almost worthy of a trophy. I see these balls as works of art. The unexpected, the ‘eaten’, ‘damaged’, and ‘destroyed’, can be beautiful too. Rather than trying to accuse or change the dogs, we should change the views of the masters.
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All images courtesy of Delphine Crepin.
Article published at Four&Sons, Issue Six.
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TAKE THE LEAD
We are thrilled to introduce Dog-Friendly, a collection of city guides for dog-loving people, created together with our long-time contributor, photographer Winnie Au, and fellow enthusiasts, indie publisher Hoxton Mini Press. Available for purchase here.
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