How should we portray animals?

I came across this article titled The Meaning of Animal Portraiture in a Museum Setting: Implications for Conservation and it stood out as an interesting article to discuss. Basically, it is about the impacts that an animal portrait photo exhibition can have on the visitors.

The article starts by looking at the effectiveness of zoos and aquariums and concludes that people tend to be more interested in the animal itself than conservation efforts or the welfare of the animals. Conservation information came behind these two points (Kalof, Zammit-Lucia, & Kelly, 2011). Thus, such animal attraction organisations face an uphill task in encouraging conservation to the public. However, its popularity means that it remains an important way for conservationists to influence the public’s attitudes.

Are zoos really effective in encouraging conservation? Or are they just another attraction?

The article then moves on to the portrayal of animals in other media such as television and film, before moving on to the main focus: how does the way an animal is portrayed in a photograph in a museum affect the viewer’s opinion of animals? The photos from this exhibit were by the photographer Joe Zammit-Lucia and were done in a studio portrait style.

By exploring how the visitors felt about the word “Animal” before and after viewing the exhibit, they arrived at an interesting result. There was a large increase in the number of people who felt that animals, like humans, had unique personalities. Words such as “wild”, “violent” and “nature” associated less to “Animals” after the exhibition.

So what does this mean for conservation efforts?

This study shows that the way we represent animals in photos can have a large impact on the viewer’s attitudes towards animals. Hence, I believe more attention has to be paid to how we want to portray the animals. Usually, most photos try to romanticise nature by showing everything in a wild state. The animals are shown to be in their natural environment, doing natural things such as hunting. However, this raises the possibility that it reinforces the view that animals are violent and humans are now separate from nature. Instead, by showing that each animal is unique and has human-like characteristics, it might help the viewers to forge a bond with the animals. Which method would bring about a better outcome for conservation efforts? While it is not explored in this article, it sounds like a very interesting topic to read about.

One shortcoming of this article was that the sample size of 50 is small. Furthermore it was conducted at a natural history museum which would cater towards people who are already interested in nature. It will be intriguing to see if there would be any difference if the study was conducted at other types of venues such as an arts museum.  

References:

Kalof, L., Zammit-Lucia, J., & Kelly, J. R. (2011). The Meaning of Animal Portraiture in a Museum Setting: Implications for Conservation. Organization & Environment, 1086026611412081.