PRESS RELEASE​

My Pet's Therapist

Curated by Jacob Rhodes & April Zhu

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Tutu Gallery

October 5 - November 9, 2019

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Animals have long been regarded as symbols of heightened spirituality and anamplification of personality psychology. Spiritual animals, animal ritual masks andgods/goddesses with hybrid animal forms are all examples of human’s tendency to mark theirextreme mental states as a transformation into animals. Only through these intense experiencesdo we feel connected to our true spirits and the order of nature.

 

My Pet’s Therapist presents 15 works by 11 artists to discuss how humans identify withanimals. Our relationship with animals can sometimes be double bounded: as top of the foodchain, we are in separation with animals, controlling their lives and projecting our own mentalactivities to manipulate their image; at moments where we lose control over our emotion andcivilized behavior, we can feel an equal fragility and a new understanding towards the truth,aware that our fate follows the arrangement of a larger ecosystem. Why do we love our pets? Is ita narcissistic love for we are the center of their universe? Or a genuine awe for they possess astate of mind us humans only have a glimpse into?