Animals & Beauty

"A photographic perspective on solidarity between women and animals. A dialogue between Jo-Anne McArthur and Benedetta Piazzesi", 2022

The interview between philosopher Benedetta Piazzesi and photographer Jo-Anne McArthur sheds light on anti-speciesist and feminist activism through a project that aims to document both animal suffering and the actions of women who expose it and stand in solidarity with animals. Jo-Anne McArthur is one of the leading photojournalists specializing in the condition of animals world-wide. She has documented the living conditions and exploitation of animals in over sixty different countries and her images are used by animal advocacy movements across the globe. She lives in Toronto and runs the multi-media agency We Animals Media, which she founded. Over twenty years, she has amassed a vast amount of documentation and has been involved in many collaborative projects with other photographers, NGOs and feminist activists on behalf of animals. This interview is a dialogue between Jo-Anne McArthur and Benedetta Piazzesi, a philosopher who has focused her research on the logic of governmental control of animals in the modern and contemporary periods.

Master's Thesis (Research), 2020

Humanimalia, 2013

A taxidermied magpie cocks its eye from the jacket cover of Gorgeous Beasts: Animal Bodies in Historical Perspective, the latest volume in the new Animalibus Series from Pennsylvania State University Press. Barely contained by a bell jar, the magpie perches above a mound of miscellaneous shiny things. The bird has the neutral pose of a natural history specimen; the bell jar suggests the embalmed nature of Victorian parlours. Yet the heap of scavenged trinkets helps us see the magpie as an individual, a sentient creature with particular tastes and preferences. Magpies are among the most intelligent animals. They are also one of the most aesthetically sophisticated. Hoarding its pearls and silver spoons together with safety pins and keys, the magpie has its own aesthetic tastes that defy humans' sense of value and worth. The magpie is part of Marc Dion's artwork Portrait of a Collector (2004), a title which evokes a collector's passion, personal value, and perhaps a touch of eccentricity. But which collector is on display? The magpie or the naturalist? Or perhaps the collector is the pervasive human desire to bottle up the rest of nature for our contemplation and enjoyment? Portrait of a Collector has no straightforward answers, and it is surely no coincidence that the editors of Gorgeous Beasts chose Dion's magpie, a scavenger, a trickster, a collector, a renowned mimic, and a dead bird under glass, as their envoy.

Although recent work in philosophical aesthetics has brought welcome attention to the beauty of nature, the aesthetic appreciation of animals remains rarely discussed. In this essay, I trace the existence of this gap in aesthetic theory to certain ethical difficulties with aesthetically appreciating animals. I suggest that these can be avoided by focusing on the aesthetic quality of ‘looking fit for function’. I defend this approach to animal beauty by arguing against the view that ‘looking fit’ is a non-aesthetic quality, and by replying to Edmund Burke’s famous critique of the connection between fitness and the beauty of animals.

2020

In this essay I will focus on my artistic practice, discussing the dialogue/influence in the use of canine as a companion species and as an accessory and commodity, with ideals of perfection implemented through breed standards set out in dog shows. I include the constructs of the zoo, and its humanistic influence, and how these themes have moulded and adapted my theoretical discourse and art practice. This paper has been written in the time of the Covid 19 lockdown, and because of this world changing event, I have added an epilogue to discuss the impact it may have on the human and non-human animals mentioned in this paper. ANIMAL OR ACCESSORY Contrary to lots of dangerous and unethical projection in the Western world that makes domestic canines into furry children, dogs are not about oneself. Indeed, that is the beauty of dogs. They are not a projection, nor a realization of an intention, nor the telos of anything. They are dogs; i.e., a species in obligatory, constitutive, historical, protean relationship with human beings… 1-Donna Haraway In her companion species manifesto, Haraway has used terms such as cohabitation, symbiotic relationship, and companion animal in some of her analysis of domesticated dogs' relationship with their human companions. Her terminology, relating to this notion of companion species, speaks to an interrelationship with non-human animals, which is genuine and equal, and contrasts with terms like master, owner, and parent (all terms of hierarchy). Haraway's referral to the Western world's "furry children", in the opening quote, resonates, when associated with pop culture and media influence. I was reading such texts in 2005, when Paris Hilton was at the height of social influencing, and constant media images of her chihuahua, Tinkerbell, appearing in her hand bag adorned with clothing and jewels matching that of her human companion, set the stage for fashion trends of accessorised companion animals. 2 Although the use of animals as accessories was not an entirely new concept, the media attention that this drew set off worldwide trends. Adornment of dogs, coupled with dyed hair and painted claws, anthropomorphised the non-human companion.

Centering Animals in Latin American History (Duke University Press, 2013), 2013

Journal for Critical Animal Studies, 2014

2018

2018

That program is specific in books sharing across various people and countries, and guide Art For Animals Visual Culture And Animal Advocacy 187