Oh horse, you mustn’t, oh horse listen, horse:
don’t think you are worse than they are!
We are all of us horses, to some extent! Horse?
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Being human is something that needs to be asserted time and time again through the animal. A constant interaction, a pendulum, a binary – human/animal.
When the boundary between human and animal is blurred, it can lead to unsettling confrontations and moments of introspective discomfort. The encounter with “the other”, with its inherent unpredictability, evokes a range of emotions—from fear and uncertainty to identification and connection. These moments of disturbance serve as catalysts for self-reflection, prompting us to confront aspects of our own humanity that may otherwise remain unexamined. In our encounters with animals, we are confronted with the rawness of our own existence.
Central to this exploration is the role of perception—the act of looking and being looked at. In the gaze of the animal, we are confronted with questions of identity and existence. What do we see when we look at an animal and what is it that is looking back at us? This exchange of gazes lays bare truths that transcend language, stripped of societal constructs and notions.
