(2018- Ongoing)
Book in progress
Safari is visual and theoretical research that depicts different zoos around the world. Focusing mostly on people looking at the animals and the superficiality and obscureness depicted by the park’s architecture. Through photography, texts, videos, and performances the project wishes to point out and raise political, environmental, and ethical questions.
“Until relatively recently zoos were called menageries, and were the hobbies of princes, serving the same function as court dwarfs and court musicians. After the rise of modern science, such simple entertainments seemed frivolous, so menageries were called zoological gardens- the idea being that they were really laboratories for the study of animal behavior. While this concept is superficially plausible, a moment of thought makes it evident that one cannot very well study the behavior of lions and tigers, for example, as long as they are locked in separate cages.”(John Szarkowski, The Animals).
So, what are the reasons that zoos still exist? Their functionality and the moral issues around caged animal parks, zoos, and other similar institutions are matters I have been in conflict with for most of my life .
https://yanirshani.com 
