Photo exhibition explores complexity of human-animal relationship

Black-and-white photos depicting the stories of animals like elephants, dogs, donkeys and orangutans are currently on display in an exhibition at the Dia.Lo.Gue art space in Kemang, South Jakarta. Slated to run until April 9, A Trunk and Other Tails features work by 50-year-old freelance photographer Dilla Djalil-Daniel, who seeks to evoke the sympathy and empathy of viewers. “There are so many people who think that these are just animals,” she recently told The Jakarta Post.

Curator Irma Chantily said the exhibition aimed to illustrate the complex relationship between humans and animals. “Humans take care of animals but they also consume them,” she said. Among the works featured in the exhibition are the dog and elephant photo series, which Dilla took during photography workshops in 2012 in South Africa and Thailand. One photo shows an elephant being treated at an elephant hospital in Thailand after it stepped on a landmine. “[I wanted to show] that there are humans who take care of the elephant, while there are also those who put in the landmines and don’t care,” she said.

During her 2016 trip to West Ketapang, Kalimantan, she took photos of orangutans as she wanted to feature Indonesian animals in her exhibition. Meanwhile, the labor donkey photographic story was recently snapped in Nepal in 2017. "There are tortured [labor] donkeys in Nepal. However, at the same time, the country also hosts a rescue center for the animal,” said Dilla. The photographs, as well as books containing the photos, are being sold for charity. The revenue collected will be donated to the animal foundations that facilitated Dilla’s visits to the aforementioned locations.

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The Jakarta Post