La Petite Mort gallery presents

MEMENTO MORI
Photographs by TOU YUN-FEI / Taiwan
November 23- December 6, 2012

There is no opening night for this exhibit
Viewing available during business hours
Warning: sensitive imagery & subject matter

ARTIST STATEMENT:

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by  
the way its animals are treated.” –Ghandi

These images record the last moments of life for some dogs found in  
public pounds run by governmental agencies in Taiwan. These portraits  
are taken on the very day in which the animal depicted is about to be  
put down or mercifully killed. These images are but a small fraction  
of the total body of work in this ongoing project.

Utilizing the classic portrait style that originated in the early  
19th century with the birth of photography as an art form these  
photographs offer the viewer a chance to look attentively into a  
bleak future. These dogs are essential dead and their souls are  
hours, minutes away from non-existence. These portraits reflect a  
formal construct or platform through which the viewer and the dog  
“communicate” using exchanged gazes to create a forced  
contemplation.

Photographic images allow us to contemplate. Through contemplation we  
gain an understanding of the uniqueness and nobility of life. Through  
contemplation we understand how chaotic and disordered the world has  
become.

The tyranny of human has caused and today is still causing an amount  
of pain and suffering over nonhuman animals. Nonhuman animals should  
be treated as independent sentient beings that they are, and not as a  
means to human being.

People should consider animal rights as a moral issue rather than  
appealing to emotional affection. As Peter Singer wrote in his Animal  
Liberation, “The portrayal of those who protest against cruelty to  
animals as sentimental, emotional “animal-lovers” has had the  
effect of excluding the entire issue of our treatment of nonhumans  
from serious political and moral discussion.”

The purpose of this project is to arouse people’s awareness of  
animals rights and make people think through, carefully and  
consistently, the question of how we ought to treat nonhuman animals.  
The animals themselves are incapable of demanding their own  
liberation, or of protesting against their condition with votes,  
demonstrations, or boycotts. We have to speak up on behalf of those  
who cannot speak for themselves.

The photographic image is merely a vehicle of communication that can  
lead to a better understanding of a situation, an event, of ourselves  
and of the world around us.

In viewing these specific images, one looks directly into the eyes of  
the dog and the dog looks back. These images reflect the last  
opportunity to look. This is a final and decisive moment. Death is  
eminent and all that is asked of the viewer is to engage, to  
recognize the common bonds and to honor the resemblances between our  
lives.


Interview with artist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yMztUui5Xs

Facebook Invite:
https://www.facebook.com/events/496019393762841/

Merci,

Guy Berube
Gallery Director

La Petite Mort Gallery
306 Cumberland Street
Ottawa, ON Canada K1N 7H9
T (613) 860.1555
E guy@lapetitemortgallery.com
W lapetitemortgallery.com

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Twitter: @LPMgallery