For decades, pit bulls have been demonized by society and portrayed as hellhounds. They’ve become the most feared, hated, and abused of all companion animals.
The media reports of vicious attacks along with government bans on keeping a pit bull has doomed the fate of millions of abandoned dogs around the world languishing in shelters where most must be euthanized. In America alone, hundreds of thousands of pit bulls are euthanized every year.
Pit bull owners themselves encounter discrimination struggling to find apartments and renters insurance companies that will welcome and accept their beloved dog companion.
Sophie Gamand has been photographing adoptable pit bulls for free around the US since 2014. Too many of these dogs have been waiting for homes for years. By adorning her models with handmade flower crowns, Gamand celebrates their inherent personality, vulnerability, and individuality.
Posted and shared widely on social media, the portraits and their accompanying stories–at once charming, candid, and deeply affecting–have not only led to hundreds of dogs finding loving homes, but the images have also spurred efforts to de-stigmatize an animal whose reputation for violence says more about people than the true character and behavior of the dogs themselves.
Artist Bios
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Sophie Gamand
We claim dogs are our best friends. But are we really acting like theirs?
Originally from France, Sophie moved to New York City in 2010. There, she began a passionate quest to better understand dogs and their place in human societies. Photography (portraiture and documentary) became her main means of exploring that world. Portraiture in particular, had always been a way for Sophie to create intimacy with her subjects. Battling social anxiety, Sophie found in dogs a more natural relationship, not encumbered by words and misunderstanding. Or so she thought.
Soon, she stepped into the world of animal shelters, and uncovered the many ways in which dogs are misunderstood and silenced. Not just in the world of rescue, but in our daily lives as well. Working with dogs meant she had a responsibility to serve the most vulnerable of them, and help humans become better guardians. This led Sophie on a journey to not only photograph thousands of shelter dogs around the United States, including for her world-renowned project Pit Bull Flower Power, but also to get involved with communities around the world, photographing free-ranging dogs in rural Ecuador or Moldova, or those trapped in the dog meat trade in South Korea where she created an impactful awareness campaign.
Sophie leveraged her incredibly popular Wet Dog and Pit Bull Flower Power series, which garnered large social media followings, to shine a light on at-risk dogs around the world, and raise funds for the nonprofits that care for them.
After over a decade in rescue advocacy, Sophie became ordained as an animal chaplain, to further her commitment to dogs and humans in a way that combines her art and purpose. Now living in Los Angeles, she is focusing on her multidisciplinary art career and dreams of exhibits bridging art with science and other disciplines. Her topics of interest are rooted in ecofeminism, highlighting the intersection between the way we treat our natural world (with dogs as a magnifier) and women or other vulnerable groups. These days, you will find her at the ceramic studio, creating hand-stitched embroideries, cyanotypes, paintings, or all sorts of installations. And of course, at the local shelter where she hosts an emotional support group for volunteers, and still photographs adoptable dogs.
Organizations
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United Photo Industries (UPI)
United Photo Industries (UPI) is a New York based nonprofit organization that works to promote a wider understanding of, and increased access to, the art of photography.
Since its founding in 2011, UPI has rapidly solidified its position in the public art landscape by continuing to showcase thought-provoking, challenging, and exceptional photography from across the globe. In its first seven years, UPI has presented the work of more than 2,500 visual artists in gallery exhibitions and public art installations worldwide.
Pit Bull Flower Power
Featuring: Sophie Gamand
Locations
View Location Details Annenberg Space for PhotographyCentury Park,
2000 Avenue of the Stars Los Angeles,
CA 90067
Location open 24 hours
