Empathy for the 'other'
Totaro’s photography casts animals in an empathetic light, displaying the commonalties in human and animal behaviours. It allows us to see nature as both the ‘other’ and as a part of us, tapping into the ethical bounds of how we treat them. When I look at this recued lab rat, I feel empathy. I feel a certain misery as I see his tired little eyes rest with relief. He rests in the crevasses of a human palm, warm and safe. I see the irony in this as it is the human palm that inserts the lethal injection at the end of the experimental day. It is the human palm that emits carbon dioxide to suffocate these creatures. The salience of this image is the rat’s face, but as I look deeper, I am drawn to its paw resting on the human’s knuckle. It is a sign of Transcorporeality, where human life overlaps with nonhuman. This gentle encounter is one of trust, empathy, and safety. The rat squeaks “thank you” while the human embraces a little tighter.
To see nature as existing with us, and not for us is a perspective I think should be normalised for humans. This connects to the previous student’s e-concept of The Sonderweb, where it explains how human and non-human beings exist in a collective space and with equal validity, dependent on one another. The rat’s comfort in this image reveals that humans and animals are behaviourally close, obfuscating any stigmas of hierarchy where animals are seen as less than humans. Photography as such is a powerful vessel for connecting with the natural world, allowing us to see and feel the interconnectedness with the nature.
Elle Andreopoulos
