Being a creative person I am well aware of the risks and borders we can sometimes cross that often seems to blur the lines of what is acceptable to social standards in art practice. Obsanity, nudity and blasphemy are just some of the ways that artists can get noticed, and be accused of wrong doings.

At the same time, I do not believe that an artist can do whatever they want and say, it’s for the sake of art. Let’s take artist Guillermo Vargas who featured a starving street dog in a Nicaraguan gallery. The point that he wanted to make was that you put a starving dog in the middle of a gallery space and people take notice and are outraged by what they see. But if you step outside the gallery there are many dogs on the street dying every day, and no one takes notice.

The news of this artwork spread quickly across the globe and thousands of angry people have been petitioning for him to be excluded from the Central American Visual Arts Biennale show in Honduras.

Many animal groups said the animal was not unlike any other dog you would see on the street in this region. The dog was only in the gallery for a day and escaped.

So is this ethical or not? Vargas is calling us to look at ourselves and evaluate if our anger is really justified, or is it hypocritical?

Being an animal lover I certainly do not agree with what he did and do not see it as art. But I struggle with his intentions and wonder myself if perhaps the way he went about it was wrong, but the issue he was trying to bring to everyone’s attention is an important one.

Lucky for him the Nicaraguan government has no animal cruelty laws in place. Out of all of this controversy came something positive. The public’s reaction to the work shows that humanity still cares deeply for the treatment of animals worldwide. An encouraging note for all of those working for animal organisations restoring animal rights and stopping the poor treatment of animals all over the globe.



Author: Katie Preston