Wet Dog


  • Photographer
    Sophie Gamand
  • Prize
    1st Place / Fine Art/Portrait
  • Date of Photograph
    September/November 2013

Wet Dog is a series of dogs caught mid-bath.

Story

Since 2010, I have been focusing on photographing urban dogs and our relationship with them. I believe this unique interspecies bond speaks volumes about our own society. Placed in an urban setting, dogs are faced by many challenges, imposed by their owners’ lifestyle. The "Wet Dog" series is part of this photographic exploration. Dogs are the first and most striking example of artificial selection in the history of humanity. Has Mankind created Dogs the same way God created Mankind? In the course of the past millennia, dogs have ceased to be free animals; they have been created, modified, trained and engineered into perfect people companions. This, in my opinion, reveals two important characteristics of humankind: first, our god-like attitude towards Nature, and the responsibilities this must imply; second, our deep sense of solitude and the difficulties we face in bonding with other humans, leading some people to turn to dogs instead. For these people, especially in large cities, dogs replace friends, spouses or even children. We have subdued an entire species solely to meet the needs and desires that our human partners are not fulfilling. Seeking traces of humanity in our canine partners, it is our own humanity that I study and question.
The "Wet Dog" series, captured inside a grooming salon, is a suite of dog portraits photographed during an activity that they hate: bath time. I chose this activity because it is a very unnatural situation for the dogs, yet it is a direct consequence of their cohabitation with humans. Domesticated dogs need to be washed for hygiene, health and social reasons. Photographing dogs in those moments of extreme vulnerability has allowed me to magnify the incredible range of emotions they are capable of expressing, in their attempts to communicate with their “makers”. Poignant looks, despair, anger and even judgment can be read into their eyes. This may question our own behavior and our responsibilities towards a species we have modified and we control. Are the wet dogs beckoning us the same way humanity reaches out for her own gods, asking the Almighty the reason behind their suffering? The urban dog has become somewhat of a mirror to our own condition and our ultimate solitude.

You can create multiple entries, and pay for them at the same time.
Just go to your History, and select multiple entries that you would like to pay for.