Kate Puxley

Taxidermy Domestic Cats, 2012

“In the past, families of all classes kept domestic animals because they served a useful purpose – guard dogs, hunting dogs, mice-killing cats, and so on.  The practice of keeping animals regardless of their usefulness, the keeping exactly, of pets is a modern innovation, and, on the social scale on which it exists today, is unique.  It is part of that universal but personal withdrawal into the private small family unit, decorated or furnished with mementoes from the outside world, which is such a distinguishing feature of consumer societies.”
– John Berger, Why Look at Animals