Non-Human Persons – Melanie Bonajo

“To introduce the Earth’s ecosystem to aliens, could we use the cute pictures of animals we upload online?”

The premise is: man is the only animal having self-awareness. Then comes the internet, where we can all upload images, without rules or hierarchies and without having to respect any scientific classification. What are the consequences?

For ten years, Melanie Bonajo has been surfing the web collecting thousands of photographs of animals taken by amateur photographers, inventing new classification systems: ‘animals on vacation’, ‘animals that fit in one hand’, ‘animals and their friends’, ‘animals and bottles’ and so on.

A brilliant and provocative project that aims to make us more aware of our responsibilities in protecting and enhancing the environment around us.

Briefly, if the photoamateur is the new scientist, will a lion stop being a lion?