Justice and Scale
A Reticulated Python rests on detritus, the patterned skin and scales shine under ambient light. (Malayopython reticulatus)
The Reticulated Python is the only python known to occasionally eat humans when their regular food source dwindles, and as such are unfairly targeted as a threat. They are hunted for bloodletting and organs as well as their skins.
All of the animals in this series have been photographed in captivity, at the Toronto Zoo. All animals were observed to be in good health in clean spacious quarters.
Zoos are controversial spaces. They contain nature that is kept in captivity away from its native space. Due to human callousness and greed, many habitats are destroyed and pilfered for their resources. Colonial tactics affect not only the local flora and fauna but also the people indigenous to the area. Traditions and knowledge is lost to brute force and insidious psychological tactics leaving the local populations vulnerable to exploitation through their internal call for survival. Zoos can also serve, if run in an equitable and mindful way, to rebuild animal populations that have been extirpated from the wild, through breeding programs and in time to restore local ecosystems. Research and public education are elements of note as well. Some Zoos also take in trafficked animals that have been rescued from rings or illegal and negligible ownership, caring for animals already acclimated to humans without destroying them (which is usually the procedure) giving them kindness and a new secure life. Supporting the welfare of animals needs to be done in concert with supporting the rights and autonomy of people affected by the same systems of greed and cruelty. We are interdependent with nature, we are animals ourselves. We cannot tame nature, we are a part of it. Let's protect it.
Please join me in support of the initiative #TezosForHumanity in its second year in supporting charitable organizations that aim to mitigate and reconcile the trauma and violence that systems of colonial and capitalist power have forced upon humanity.
50% of proceeds of this series will be donated by beneficiary split contract to the #TezosForHumanity initiative.
2019 Nikon D60, 55-200mm Lens.
Photographed in situ, without the use of artificial lighting or staging. Photoshop only used for resizing.
1024x685 300dpi JPEG
Captive Nature - TezosForHumanity
