In custody / Philippe Lopparelli

A zoo can be seen as an extensive mass of iron and concrete of course, but it is also a space open from within, exposing the animal, its speed and fury, its rage, agility, cruelty and weaknesses, its eating habits and sexual behaviour.
With this in mind people have said time and time again about animals living in cages that they stand as an allegory of the “human condition”.
All I can say against this reasoning which is a clumsy jumble of bazaar metaphysics and self-centred anthropomorphism, is that a monkey will always be a monkey and will by no means stand as a representation of man.
To this can be added the fact that people have always wanted documentary photography to be symbolic… taking a picture of the tide, has to be a representation of the swelling sea, for instance. I like to think that when I photograph zoos, I am simply taking the animals home with me…