American artist Elliot Ross was intrigued by the portrait of his late cat, which his wife put up on the wall in their house. The cat seemed to stare right at him. Ross wondered if the cat had consciously looked into the camera when the photo was taken. What was the cat thinking at the time? In what ways is the consciousness of an animal different from that of a human being? Ross turned his thoughts and questions into a project: Animal. Photographing animals from around the world, he discarded their surroundings afterwards to make these isolated and powerful portraits.

Text by Manfred Zollner:

'The haunting animal portraits of the American Elliot Ross question our relation to other creatures and the ways we perceive the animal world'.

Manfred Zollner in fotoMAGAZIN.
Schilt Publishing, 2010.