In case you find yourself in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the coming weeks, three of the photographs from the Sri Lanka project will be exhibited as part of INTERSPECIES at The Gallery Project. The event will be January 3-February 11, 2013, curated by Linda Kalof, Rocco DePietro and Gloria Pritschet.
The Interspecies exhibit focuses on the complex and changing relationships between humans and animals and between various animal species. As a culture, our understanding of these relationships is often based on false and outdated assumptions about animal intelligence and behavior.
New research mainly from field biologists and anthropologists is finding evidence of intergroup cooperation and communication including such behaviors as sharing of territories and food, cooperative hunting, reciprocity, mutualism, care giving, play, and anti-predator behaviors such as alarm calls and signaling.
While cooperation is the primary focus of the exhibit, other forms of interactions will be explored including exploitation. For example, wild gorillas have worked together to destroy human designed snares. We are also interested in what happens when animal habitats are encroached by humans and vice versa.
The exhibit will also look at human relationships with animals, not the pet variety, but the substantial forms of communication and interaction with wild animals. There are numerous examples of cooperative hunting with birds and other species. Animals have even been harnessed by the military and police. We have bomb and drug sniffing dogs and bottlenose dolphins locating and defusing mines. We also have historical examples of researchers establishing communication with various animal species most notably Irene Pepperberg with Alex an African gray parrot, and Penny Patterson with Koko a lowland gorilla.
Artists, scientists, and others in the exhibit will make an effort to visualize these behaviors and to imagine other forms of cooperation and interactions that are still yet to be fully researched and documented.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
