'The Animals' by photographer and activist Estela de Castro

In the exhibition The Animals created by photographer and activist Estela de Castro, the image is just as important as the text. "They are beautiful portraits that hide various types of violence and this is what I want to show", said de Castro, who acknowledged that it was not easy to carry out the project due to the harshness of the stories. The author has portrayed these hundred animals when they lived in various shelters, especially in Catalonia and Madrid, after being victims of abandonment, hunting, run-overs, illegal trafficking, experiments in laboratories, zoos or in production centers, among others. The project started in 2020, during the months of confinement, and has lasted for a year and a half.

"I adorned myself with the fact that through the beauty of animals I could tell their stories", detailed Estela de Castro, who recalled that it all started "after wanting to help with the adoption of dogs and cats" from the Animal Rescue Foundation. Since then, he has been capturing with his camera the scars of various animals such as Dante, a beagle born dog rescued from an experimental center, or Irving, a starling that can no longer fly because it be wounded by a shot.

Awaken awareness

For this reason, he has defended that this exhibition "does not make sense" if the end user only looks at the image, but does not read the accompanying text. "The word is just as important as the image, because otherwise they are just beautiful portraits", added de Castro, who assured that the aim of the exhibition is to highlight the various types of violence that animals suffer at the moment.

In this sense, the director of Mèdol, the Tarragona Center for Contemporary Arts, Vicent Fibla, has pointed out that the portraits of The Animals "do not focus on physical wounds but bring out the emotional sequelae". "They shake our consciousness through beauty and preciousness", he added. Some words that have been shared by the Councilor for Culture of Tarragona City Council, Sandra Ramos, who has defended the importance of art and culture "moving consciences".

Next exhibition: 'Zoocosis'

The Animals was the first animal themed exhibition that Mèdol has planned for this season. Next May, the artist Estela de Castro will return to Tarragona to present Zoocosis. In this case, it will be done in the lobby of the old headquarters of the Old Bank of Spain to denounce the stereotyped and repetitive behaviors caused by animals confined in caged spaces or outdoors in zoological facilities. Both exhibitions have been jointly organized with the Tarragona collective Cultura Verda.