Works on Display Explore the Symbiotic Relationship Between Humans and Horses

Currently based in Amsterdam and New York, Charlotte Dumas was born in 1977. She studied visual arts at the academy and has focused her work on the relationship between humans and animals in contemporary society. To date, she has presented portrait works featuring animals in various contexts, including police horses, rescue dogs, and animals in zoos.

This exhibition marks her solo show at Gallery 916, curated by photographer Yoshihiko Ueda. The series "ANIMA" showcases photographs of the carriage horses at Arlington National Cemetery, located in the suburbs of Washington D.C., the capital of the United States, where American soldiers are buried.

For centuries, these warhorses have supported human endeavors in military service. No longer called upon for combat as carriage horses, a small number of these horses now solemnly perform the honorable duty of transporting soldiers to their "final resting place" at Arlington Cemetery. The exhibition features seventeen large-format prints capturing these horses, along with a video work. Dumas, who believes "the connection between humans and other beings that exist as if watching over us is extremely important for our survival," photographed the horses in moments of relaxed vulnerability after their work was done.

Dumas reflects, "The roles and forms these horses occupied in people's lives are destined to fade with the passage of time. However, the existence of animals cannot be defined solely by their roles. We also learn from animals in our lives. I am drawn to the coexistence that exists between humans and animals who stand by each other."