Yvette Watt

Domestic Animals (Supermarket Choices):

The animal as a self-interested and sentient individual, and our ethical responsibility to animals, are key forces behind my role as an animal activist and have informed my artwork for over two decades.

Recent works have openly addressed certain key issues associated with an animal rights ideology. While it is hoped that the artworks will encourage the viewer to consider these issues, there is nonetheless a conscious avoidance of an overtly heavy-handed polemic, focusing instead on the personal nature of this interest in animal-human relationships and my consequent identification with non-human animals, which is expressed through
the role of the self within a number of the works.

A primary concern of these artworks is an attempt to identify on a personal level with those animals whose lives have for the most part been reduced that that of commodities and who are rarely thought of as sentient individuals with similar physical, behavioural and emotional needs to ourselves. In presenting my personal point of view, I hope that the viewer might also be caused to give consideration to the issues I feel so passionately about.