Is It A Human Race? 

R. Galvan | Medford, Massachusetts, USA 

When R. Galvan searched the Stewart-Swift Research Center archives for images of men, they found their attention driving to assorted photographs of animals. References to husbandry and agriculture were to be expected. As was a photograph of a hunting party on the porch of Pierce House on Court Street proudly displaying its game. There were exotic animals as well. A photograph of a circus element parading through the village shows people lining the street to watch the affair. In these images, Galvan saw people organizing around animals. The artist wrote: “Domesticated, undomesticated, and exotic animals were captured and presented as part of the archive. While these photographs and records document a historic moment, do they still recall animals from the past in the ways we would today? Images of animals show us how we relate to our environment and assemble as communities. Whether as a snapshot turned trophy from a hunting trip, or a portrait as documentation of accomplishment or ownership, or the newspaper advertisement heralding the coming attractions of a grand circus, animals are all around us. They reveal a world of sport, routine commerce, and spectacular entertainment, establishing rules for civic behavior, economic exchange, or even social gatherings. To disrupt those rules and reconsider the role of animals, I composed a soap box derby race. The materials from the archive were cut, re-sized, and layered to organize animals as participants and leaders. People were rendered as labor and background scenery. Is It A Human Race? glimpses a reality where animals have lives like our own.