Profane #17
"We have decided to take animals seriously. Cats, dogs, cows, and insects feature, or rather have sneaked into these pages, and show us that there may be alternative ways of embracing reality, of grasping or inhabiting it. Of being sensitive to its beauty. Theirs seems to guide them, so let’s pay attention. To the peregrine falcons, swallows, night birds, and many other species thankful for Jacques and Mariek’s house. Their host tells us that there have never been so many of them, as if their presence and their return confirmed the importance of a space worthy of preservation, acknowledging its power, its soul. They feel at home there.
Animals are here, even when they’re not, always present in the imagination of humans (those who still dream) who like to represent them: such as cement animals in spontaneous gardens, pigment animals in paintings that celebrate the transience of life, and even as glass trinkets in a living room... Elsewhere, strong cows and feisty horses have joined another human’s creative journey: they patiently lend their flanks to Lionel, who, as he sculpts on their coats, is bringing new worlds to life. Emil, a shaggy dog, kindly let his hairy tail be used as a paintbrush to illustrate a text on the possibility of animal artists. At Profane, we don’t shy away from anything, and by endowing animals with a different status, albeit briefly, by deciphering their signals, we somewhat challenge the idea of the creative gesture, which then becomes within reach of every living being. So let’s celebrate animals and recognize their merit. Namely putting up with us.
Paris, France; 155 x 230mm; 235 pages; Bi-annual