Micah Coto, Look Closer (Doco/Photojournalism (2019))

“Zoos celebrate, not the animals, but our mastery of the animals” – Bernard E. Rollin My project, Look closer was my final Individual Project for my Bachelor of Photography where I am majoring in Photojournalism. These are a few of the photos. Look Closer, looks at the ‘spectacle’ that is animals in captivity, and is questioning the dismissive gaze of zoo patrons and the way that we view captive animals. Its focus is on the disconnect that occurs between the creatures on either side of the glass or cage. I created these photographs by visiting zoos and photographing spectators as they were viewing animals, I was intentionally taking focus away from the animals themselves and turning it towards the spectator in hopes of capturing that concept of the dismissive gaze. The idea behind my project was to show people that the way we view animals in captivity is something that needs attention. Animals are blatantly being used as fleeting entertainment for people who are more concerned about getting a photo for instagram or facebook then ACTUALLY doing something to help endangered species or the rescue and rehabilitation of wildlife. Zoos make wild animals available whenever we feel like seeing them, and because of this we seem to disregard or take for granted the animals that we see in Zoos. Maybe if people learn to Look Closer, they will realise that they actually have a part to play...

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.