Elena DELL'AGNESE, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Italy
Although they are traditionally referred to as “man’s best friend,” dogs do not feature much among the monuments adorning Western cultural landscapes. While equestrian statues or triumphal arches display many horses, fountains are often adorned with fish and dolphins, and church facades can be historiated with various symbolic animals, sculptures dedicated to dogs in public spaces are scarce. Still, these (not so many) dog portrayals may offer some compelling insight into cultural attitudes towards dogs and their evolution over time, that is to see if and how dogs, “in their historical complexity” do really matter (Haraway, 2003). To this purpose, the paper suggests observing if dogs are depicted as service dogs, as examples of fidelity, as “friends” of important people, as mascots, if they have a name and an individuality, or are portrayed as a generic animal. The posture in which they are rendered- submissive and pleading, or proud and independent - may also be significant to look at. Of course, a census of all the dog statues in the world does not exist. For this research, as an example, some dog statues reported by https://www.waymarking.com/, a website listing statues found primarily in the United States, were examined, along with some famous dog statues found in European countries cities, such as London’s Brown Dog (Kean, 2003) and Antwerp’s Nello and Patrasche (dell’Agnese, 2021).
Mots clés : Critical animal geographies|dogs geo-graphies|dogs statues
A104422Ed