Urbanautica

ARE WE ANIMALS? LAB27 QUESTIONS SOCIETY'S POSTURE ON PLANET

by Steve Bisson

© David Chancellor, from "Hunters"

The latest exhibition at Lab27, "Sei un animale" ("You Are an Animal") curated by Steve Bisson, offers glimpses into the understanding of the relationship with heterotrophic life forms closely related to humans. Featured by photographer David Chancellor one of the most dedicated and committed observers of African wildlife. Alongside his works, a selection by Giulia Degasperi, drawn from a long documentary about pastoral life in the Trentino Alps, and portraits of Kazakh fishermen by Kyrgyz photographer Aleksey Kondratyev.

© Installation view Lab27, Treviso, Italy, 2025

Human fascination with nature, including through photography, has been a constant throughout our evolutionary history. Early representations and cave paintings often depict animals and, at times, hunting scenes. The etymology of the word animal contains anima, which refers to the life force, the breath that connects us organically to the world and animates existence. An animal is something animated, and thus humans can also be considered animals. However, not in a "zoo," a term from Greek that specifically denotes distinction rather than similarity. It is this intellectual distinction, separating humans from other living beings, that fuels the development of an anthropocentric culture, placing humans at the top of the organic life hierarchy, reducing it to raw material—canned meat, or whatever else one may wish to call it.

© Installation view Lab27, Treviso, Italy, 2025

It is at this point that "animal" becomes an adjective, sometimes derogatory, used to assert this supremacy. However, this dominance is being increasingly questioned by those who view the frequent pathologies of that "respiratory trait," that suffering soul, as a troubling drift of humanity. Abolition of hunting, animal rights organizations, veganism—these are some possible faces of growing discontent. At the heart of it is the desire to reconfigure relationships with other living beings, not only zoomorphic ones, but also to rethink the boundaries of the soul and the "human passport."

© Installation view Lab27, Treviso, Italy, 2025

David Chancellor’s work focuses on the conflicting aspects of conservation in Africa, a continent still home to a diverse and spectacular fauna. His photographs raise a level of complexity in their interpretation that matches the forces at play. Poverty and poaching, trophies and paid hunting, tourism and preservation, human pressure, enclosures and natural habitats. The solution? There is no solution. Coexistence with animal species lies in the continuous search for balance—or rather, in defining it as a compromise. This "tightrope walker" perspective on conservation policies is reflected in measures that are often debatable. The portrait of twelve-year-old hunter Josie from Alabama, riding horseback in the guise of a contemporary Diana while holding the antlers of her prey, is emblematic. Paid hunting, much like a pay-per-view service (adapted to a "pay and shoot" model), allows the user to "aim" at what’s necessary, while enabling the broadcaster to earn money that supports conservation needs, expenses, programs, and equipment, as well as benefiting local populations.

© David Chancellor, from "Elephant Story"

© Installation view Lab27, Treviso, Italy, 2025

© David Chancellor, from "Hunters"

A disillusioned view of the fragile, peripatetic human condition, in constant entropic search, outside of itself, for food and shelter, is revealed through the series Aleksey Kondratyev dedicates to ice fishing in Kazakhstan. In the flat, icy expanses of the Ishim River, anthropomorphic figures brave sub-zero temperatures to deceive a fish or two. An ancestral hunger, primitive subsistence, and a need for survival. Yet, the river today crosses a futuristic capital, built from nothing thanks to the exploitation of oil reserves, access to international markets, and post-Soviet architectural audacity. However, the photographer does not state this directly; he lets us infer it from the plastic tarps and packaging materials from "who knows where," used by the daring fishermen to protect themselves at forty below. Globalized capitalism intersects with snapshots of frozen human cocoons from the Paleolithic era—betrayed only by their tools, their ever-tightening dependence on things.

© Aleksey Kondratyev, from "Ice Fishers"

© Installation view Lab27, Treviso, Italy, 2025

© Aleksey Kondratyev from "Ice Fishers"

Giulia Degasperi embarks on a journey that is not only a tribute to her Trentino roots but also explores that inner conflict, quite common, which swings between the rhythms of nature and the city. After moving to Berlin, she decided to return to the mountains to capture the people who live and work at high altitudes. This is the idea behind her documentary "These Dark Mountains", which raises many questions posed by those seeking escape from contemporary society. Among the Alpine peaks, Giulia explores the dreams and hopes of those who herd livestock, following traditional movements of cattle and contributing to an ancient practice that has given rise to one of the most species-rich and diverse landscapes in Europe. Over the course of two years, she visits various barns and farms to document the solitude and extraordinary labor required to sustain this life of open air, steaming manure, starry skies, in contact with animals and nature, and, in other ways, in a reciprocal relationship that is as indispensable as it is precarious.

© Installation view Lab27, Treviso, Italy, 2025