Animal Memes

Can a photo of a shelter dog mean the difference between life and death for that animal? The New York Times article 'Fired from a Shelter After Photographing the Animals' features the story of shelter worker Emily Tannen, who was fired from her job at Animal Care and Control of New York City, apparently for photographing the residents in ways that were prohibited in the shelter regulations, prohibitions which included featuring humans in the photos, amongst other things. Ms Tannen argued that the photographs that were being used to advertise the residents were not selling them well enough. A couple of harshly lit snaps of dogs sitting against a blue wall, while being held in place with a length of rope tied around their necks, illustrate this point. She used her own Nikon camera to take some more flattering photos, which highlighted each dog's characteristics in an empathetic and appealing, and yes, a tug-at-the-heartstrings way. The article claims that Ms Tannen's breach of the photography rules is the reason she was fired, but as the shelter declined to comment this is not entirely certain. Maybe I just don't want to believe that an animal welfare organisation could be that parochial. Which is silly, because I already know that it can. Hey ho. In my experience the answer to the question is yes, a good photo sometimes means the difference between life and death for a shelter dog.

Ever since hearing the simple statement that images change far more minds that words ever will, I've been a little image obsessed. In Picturing the Beast (2001) Steve Baker dissects the various images of animals that Westerners consume every day. Without the close contact that our ancestors would have had with other species, these images are often all we have to go on in our formation of opinions about animals, which is why imagery is more important than ever. In The Postmodern Animal (2000) Baker focuses on postmodern animal art as being the avenue through which animals can be truly discovered. This is all very well but it tends to be the case that the only people who come to view postmodern animal art are the people who already enjoy viewing postmodern animal art. In other words, you're preaching to the choir.

Much more interesting, and potentially wider reaching, is the idea of animal memes. This week I discovered a website called Know Your Meme. I found it by following a link from an online article about an American police officer named John Pike, who has come to be more popularly known as Pepper Spray Cop, after he was videoed casually pepper spraying a line of students, who were staging a peaceful, sitting protest at the University of California Davis. The scene was equal parts shocking and incongruous. Pike literally sauntered down the line as if he were spraying his kitchen counter with anti-bac. It was pretty awful, but what's fascinating is the appropriation of the still image of Pike into an endless avalanche of photoshopped montages insinuating him into an array of famous images, from Pike spraying the former US presidents on Mount Rushmore, to Pike spraying Edvard Munch's The Scream, to Pike spraying Jesus at the Last Supper, and so on. Some of these are comical, and some far more sinister, and some are comical-sinister, but each says something, and each reinforces Pepper Spray Cop as a meme.

I'm not saying that we do the same with every shelter dog on death row, waiting to find an owner as the clock ticks mercilessly down. But this is a way to say something with imagery that goes beyond the earnest pages of the animal activist's pamphlet, or the high-brow catalogue of a postmodern exhibition. Pop culture is just that, popular culture, and it's wide open and waiting for images that really say something about animals to hit the mainstream.

You don't need to challenge everybody's mind. You just need to challenge enough minds.