This Indus Valley graduate has redefined animal cruelty with her work

'Give everyone the respect they deserve,' Andrea says.

The recent culling of stray dogs in Karachi compelled rising artist Andrea D'souza into using art to express her feelings.

The Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS) graduate has expressed her anguish by likening the culling of dogs to genocide in her thesis project.

While the use of bright colours might initially allure visitors, a closer inspection reveals what is essentially art made out of mangled plastic animals.



"I am an animal lover and have three dogs of my own. Outside my building happen to be a number of stray dogs. There was one I was really attached to... But the dog was poisoned in a mass culling. This incident compelled me to premise my thesis on this topic," Andrea told The Express Tribune.

PHOTO: FACEBOOK

To realistically depict what animal cruelty looks like, the artist has made striking use of plastic toys fused together and savagely scattered across the canvas. "The use of toys in itself is representative of how people have gotten desensitised to animal cruelty. When you look at my work from a distance, it looks beautiful. But as you come closer, it becomes much more than that," she said.

While working on her thesis, the artist expanded her focus from just stray dogs to other animals as well. Andrea also wanted to comment on how various industries employ inhumane methods when it comes to animals. "This is definitely just one milestone in preventing animal cruelty. For now, I aim to just raise awareness. But I do plan on doing something more practical in the long run," the artist said.

PHOTO: EMAIL

PHOTO: EMAIL

Although Andrea's advisers were not initially comfortable with her bold choice of imagery, they were surprised to see the positive response it elicited from the public. "Give everyone the respect they deserve," the artist urged people.



Andrea recently graduated from Indus Valley after saying goodbye to a promising banking career.



 

PHOTO: EXPRESSTRIBUNE

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