“Looking at these photographs will make you better,” states Sy Montgomery at the beginning of her essay introducing the book Peaceable Kingdom by Sage Sohier. This is a real scientific proof, she explains: in fact there’s a part of the human brain that responds specifically only to animals and this makes us feel better. “Repeated studies have shown that looking at photographs of animals quells anxiety, sadness and anger and sparks feelings of hope, happiness and contentment,” she writes. Well, I can say to know that from my personal experience. I am definitely that kind of person spending hours on Instagram in the company of an endless amount of video pills showing cute-animals-doing-things. It’s relaxing and helps me sleep better. It makes me feel a better person, too—connected to living beings, in a way. I experience that kind of connection that doesn’t require you to be someone you’re not. Looking at those images it’s only me, with my spontaneous joy in front of the pure essence of animals, those who do not know the meaning of time—what is past, what is future?—and that perhaps, for this very reason, can really take pleasure in their own presence in the world. Animals help us remember that we are only a small part of the universe and that what happens to us does not have the weight we believe.
In the new book published by Kehrer Verlag, American artist Sage Sohier focuses specifically on this special bond between people and animals. She photographed refuges for exotic animals, wildlife rescues that rehabilitate and re-release animals to the wild, dog and cat rescues, and farm animal sanctuaries. Many of the people pictured here have dedicated most of their adult lives to saving animals. And animals, from their side, with their sweetness and resilience, gave them something back: the pleasure to feel understood.
Read our Q&A with the author to learn more.
Can you tell me how the project was born?
It started as an extension of my 1980s-90s black and white work, “Animals,” which was about people with their companion animals, and then changed into something quite different. As I photographed, I became increasingly interested in other kinds of caring relationships that people have with animals—particularly the world of animal rescues.
You are known mostly as a black and white photographer. Here you used the color. Why this decision?
I had photographed exclusively in black and white from the 1970s through the 1990s, but I started to photograph in color around 2000. I noticed that I was becoming increasingly interested in my students’ color work, so it seemed natural that I should try color myself. After many false starts, I finally succeeded in using color successfully in my series “Witness to Beauty,” about my aging ex-fashion-model mother, and in “Perfectible Worlds,” which is about people’s passions, hobbies, and obsessions. But I feel that the door is always open to my returning to photograph in black and white again at some point.
What are the most beautiful encounters you have had when shooting for this project? Is there some "friend" that you won't forget?
I will always remember Charlie, the cheetah at Panther Ridge Conservation Center, who allowed me to enter his enclosure and photograph him so close-up. And Chrissy the Baboon, at Animal Tracks, was a remarkably loving animal (baboons are not usually known for their sweetness), who just wanted to hug everyone, humans and other monkeys alike.
I feel a deep love and respect for most of the people I photographed, and have kept in touch with many of them. Their devotion to their animals is totally amazing, and they have a terrific amount of energy. Many of them also have a great sense of humor. I was especially touched to meet Carol Preuss at Loving Paws rescue in Tennessee. She rescued all three of my dogs from bad situations. We had talked on the phone before, but it was wonderful to meet her and see where my dogs had come from. In general, I became closest to the people who I visited more than once or who let me spend the whole day with them and their animals.
What amazed you the most while you worked on this project? Have you discovered something you didn't know before?
I think I was most amazed by the degree of dedication of the people who run these animal rescues—the sacrifice of their time, comfort, finances, everything.
I was also amazed by how tolerant different animal species are of each other. Even wild animals who would normally eat each other seem to understand what their humans expect of them and how to get along with others in captivity.
What relationship do you have with animals? Do you have any?
Animals have been an important part of my life since childhood. We had four dogs back then, and I helped my mother raise an orphaned Blue Jay on our screen porch (in the days before many rescues existed). I now have three rescue dogs, and I’m an enthusiastic bird-watcher.
Animals make us better people. Why?
Animals help us relax, make us laugh, and we learn a lot about tolerance from them. Because they give us unconditional love, we are able to love them freely and uncomplicatedly (which is hard to achieve with people—even the people we are closest to). Dogs, at least, are very forgiving and don’t hold grudges.
Also, animals can’t talk, so we really have to tune in to them in a different way in order to make sure that they are well and happy. That more intuitive kind of understanding can prove to be helpful with people as well.
What did you learn by photographing this project?
I already knew about the sweetness and optimism of animals, but I learned a lot about the selflessness and incredible dedication of people who rescue animals.
Most people in the rescue world are quiet heroes—people who work behind the scenes to help animals. They spend their time doing things that other people would find extremely inconvenient—like driving hundreds of miles, with no advance notice, to pick up animals in need. They not only dedicate their time and energy to their animals, but also much of their life savings. Sometimes they have to make difficult decisions about euthanizing unhealthy or aggressive animals, so it can be very hard emotionally. I love and respect these people, but I would not be resilient enough to do this kind of work myself. So, I guess I’ve learned something about my own limitations.
And what do you hope people will learn when looking at your project?
I hope that people will find the book moving, amusing, and informative, and that it will make them want to adopt rescue animals and donate to rescues. I hope it will bring them some joy and hope. As humans, we haven’t done well in our interactions with other species, but we’re starting to try to do better. Perhaps this kind of exposure to the efforts of some will help motivate others.
