This is a work that operates in many levels but whose main principal axis is the concept of the 'look', the act of looking and of returning the look of others. The questions which these photographs poses are: What pleasure does the visitor derive from watching the caged animals? How do animals react if they do at all? How do they reciprocate the conceited, self-centered gaze of the human watcher?

This work examines the idea of pleasure relished by the visitor of the zoo as he observes something which, in essence does nort belong in this setting. The pleasure which is derived from the idea that he is enjoying access to and possession of something which is offered for mass comnsumption. Why does man need to create zoos? Is it because they protect species threatened with extinction in a safe and controlled environment? Or because they represent a concrete lesson in natural history for the young? Or might be that zoos were established to satisfy the voyeristic appetites of contemporary man, a surrogate recreation for the middle classes, a chance to 'enjoy' vicariously something they cannot see and experience in its natural setting?

The zoos foster the illusion that we too can enjoy the pleasures of nature, every bit as much as our social superiors who have the means to travel and visit the wild steppes of Africa and appreciate at first hand these exotic creatures in their natural setting. In these photographs the animals refuse to respond to the insatiable and conceited gaze of man. They deprive him of the satisfaction of confirming through that gaze hia authority and his possession. They hide themselves or flee. When the animals watch the human visitors their stare is blank, apathetic - an admission that they are unable to react, and yet as tempered by a suggestion of secret pride.