Saturday 13 March 2010

Is too much photography messing me up?

Why do I find the Mary Shannon Johnstone series 'BREEDING IGNORANCE' the hardest most disturbing set of photographs I've looked at in a long while? Is there something wrong with me? All the shocking images I've seen already this year Haiti & Chile, I've flicked through but dead cats? Not wanting to take anything away from Mary Shannon Johnstone's pictures but these images shouldn't affect me more than photographs of human suffering should they? I've never seen pictures like these before compared to the thousands I've seen from disaster zones. Is that why? Did the shock of the new remove the blinkers from my eyes for a moment?

4 comments:

Stan B. said...

Jeez, ya really had to make me see that!

That really drove the point home more than a thousand ad campaigns...

mark page said...

I was going to put a warning on it but forgot! Hard stuff to stomach eh. My poor old cat is getting pissed off with me keep fussing over her since seeing that.

ac said...

You can tell people there is an over population of dogs and cats, but they have to see what the consequences are. Maybe after seeing this, people will not buy an animal from a breeder but instead adopt from a shelter. And maybe people will stop breeding animals altogether, because we obviously have more than enough.

marcus doyle said...

Know what you mean. When I made that House Martin image (as featured in the latest show) my 6'1" 200 pound mass was moved to tears and all over a tiny dead bird. Response to the final image was also moving for a lot of people and some got upset with me for putting it in the exhibition. Not like I killed the wee thing..
Having said all that, I dont have a clue why it should stir the senses so much..
Wheres my tissues..