Q: The cover photo for your first photobook in 1979, "Boyhood", is an image a boy looking intently at a large frog that he is holding. He has his fingers around the animal's soft belly and is squeezing as the frog's legs dangle. It is an image that is tender, witty and carries a current of vulnerability. Many images in your more recent work, "Shadow Chamber" and "The Boarding House", include interaction or at least a sharing of space and composition by humans and animals (or their totems -- dolls, stuffed animals, toys and drawings) I'm struck by how central and long lasting that exchange of human\animal energy is to so many of the photographs.
How do you think the human and animal element is rooted in your work?
A: The relationship between the people I photograph and the animals is multi-dimensional and complex. In some of my images there is a very close and deep bond between the animals in the photograph and the human subjects. In other cases the relationship is hostile in which humans dominate every aspect. I believe that the relationship between man and animals is fundamentally antagonistic. In summary, it is fundamental to human nature to perceive animals as threatening and subservient to humanities needs.
[Top photograph from "The Boarding House" and the lower photograph from "Boyhood"].
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