"Elderly animals": sad photographs of Isa Leshko

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

40-year-old American Isa Leshko studied psychology in college, and became interested in photography by the age of 30. But in 10 years it has already taken place, and private collectors and galleries have become interested in her works. A new project by the photographer "Elderly Animals" tells about those who are written off and live out their days on a farm or in a shelter. Sad photographs depict seasoned dogs, well-worn horses and retired geese.

The photographer, who lives in Texas with her husband and 3 cats, loves animals very much. And more than once I thought that most of the pictures walking on photoblogs on the Web depict young, well-groomed, dexterous animals. Who doesn't love fluffy cuties? It's easy to love them, especially in a professionally shot photo. After all, the picture will not bite or scratch, kick or shit on the carpet.

The works of Isa Leshko, of course, also do not create the effect of presence. But there is also a difference from ordinary photo lolkats. The Elderly Animals project is about representatives of the fauna, which it is rather difficult to call our smaller brothers. Indeed, in animals, a year is considered several (depending on the species), and a 10-year-old dog by human standards is already a pensioner.

American Isa Leshko travels around the country, looking at farms and shelters where animals live out their days. Previously, these horses worked, but now they either went on a well-deserved rest, or they turned out to be of no use to anyone. Go figure it out: is sending to a shelter a good attitude towards horses or a desire to get rid of responsibility for them?

Showing the special beauty, dignity and spirituality of living creatures of old age, Isa Leshko wants to destroy the stereotype that, they say, only young and fluffy individuals are worthy of being depicted. True, the photographs are rather sad, but not everyone is having fun and “jumping like a chimpanzo”.

The impetus for the work was the fact that Isa Leshko took care of her mother for a long time, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Bitter thoughts changed at the bedside of the dying woman found a way out later, when one day Isa found an old blind horse on a family's farm. The woman was so fascinated that she did not leave the animal for half a day and only clicked the shutter. After watching the tape, she realized that she had finally found a way to release her grief.

From devastation to joy and challenge - this is the range of emotions of Isa Leshko's “sitters”, sometimes more shabby than it is customary to love, in places with bones protruding through the skin, but no less beautiful from this. In essence, as always, the project is not only about animals, but also about people. In an age when it is fashionable to look forever young, authors who remind us all of natural and beautiful aging delight.

Work on the project continues, ahead of Isa Leshko's acquaintance with wild animals in zoos.