Stefania Michera
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Why Look at Animals?
a five-channel video installation
What is the role of looking in our relationship with other species? What is the animal’s point of view? In my work, I raise the issue of simply looking at animals and failing to notice someone who reciprocates our gaze. I bring attention to their exclusion from the human-dominated space and their return in a form that is strictly controlled by people.
For this project, I used fragments of five nature film documentaries by Walt Disney, produced in 1950-1962. The series True-Life Adventures is distinctive with its strong construction of ideological narrative that imposes a concrete point of view of the world. Due to the anthropocentric narration and framing of nature, the animal itself ceases to be important.
The title of the project is taken from the book About looking by John Berger.