To celebrate the Chinese Zodiac Year of the Dog 2006, Platform for Art and the Photographers’ Gallery are delighted to present 10 portraits of dogs and their owners by photographer Suki Dhanda. These photographs will be displayed in poster frames at London Underground stations across zones 1–3 for two months.
The Photographers’ Gallery has supported the project by helping to select Suki Dhanda as the commissioned artist and also by assisting in the choice of the final 10 photographs. Dhanda spent a month researching and exploring the diversity of dog ownership in London, and observing how dogs interact with their owners at home and in public spaces.
By capturing the manner in which dogs use movement for communication and how their emotions and intentions are reflected in their posture, this series reveals the uncanny way that the body language and appearance of dogs often reflects and provides an insight into the personalities and identity of their owners.
For this commission, the artist also challenges preconceptions of dogs and their owners by picturing a variety of people interacting with their pets in apparently mundane contexts, such as a woman playing with her dog in the park at dusk; a young couple with their child and dog at home; or an elderly man sitting proudly with his dog in his living room.
Share your favourite snaps of yourself and your dog!
Platform for Art invited the public to submit photographs of friends and family with their dogs for a special exhibition on the Platform for Art website. Submissions closed on February 28 2006 and we will not be uploading any more images.
Between 29 January and 30 April, Platform for Art will distribute free sets of postcard images taken from the Year of the Dog posters. These postcards will be in a limited edition of 1000 per poster.
The Photographers’ Gallery is one of the UK’s primary venues for photography with a programme of exhibitions, events and education projects that promote the very best of international and UK photography.
Please visit www.photonet.org.uk or call 020 7831 1772 for more information.
Chinese New Year is part of the Mayor’s China in London 2006, the largest celebration of Chinese culture ever seen in the capital.
More information about China in London is available on Mayor of London’s website.
