Last week I had the honor of visiting Mark Barone and Marina Dervan in-studio at An Act of Dog. While I’ve written about the project in the past, well, there’s no way to fully grasp the scope of it unless you experience it in person.
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It’s easy to say you want the United States to be a no-kill nation when it comes to animal shelters and caring for unwanted pets. It’s even digestible to learn (conservatively) that 5,500 dogs are killed/euthanized each day in this country.
What’s mind-blowing is watching a project raise $20 million to go toward changing animal shelters in this country.
Even more boggling? Seeing an artist develop 5,500 individual portraits of dogs that have been killed – enough material to cover two American football fields – in an attempt to wake people up.
While Barone is only one percent of the way to his goal? Seeing what he’s got so far is shocking and emotional.
We’ll be focusing on An Act of Dog quite a bit throughout the year. So we’ll keep this short and sweet. Just wanted to share a little bit of what I got to see on July 7.
This is how the process begins – the name, photo and history of the dogs:
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See tons more photos from the rest of my visit after the jump…
The dogs then get drawn and transferred to boards:
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There are hundreds of them:
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With a little love and some paint:
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They transition from sketches to portraits:
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Their faces and personalities come to life in their memory:
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And they eventually make up a project so massive and emotional that it draws you to action:
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I encourage you to support the project and to visit Mellwood Arts Center so you can experience it for yourself. If you’re an individual of financial means, I hope you’ll assist with funding. If you’re a developer or government type? I hope you’ll consider trying to get Barone and Dervan to remain in Louisville – rather than touring the project – by finding a way to give them a building to house the final project and museum (It’d be a major f-u to Greg Fischer and the folks who think euthanizing an animal for any reason other than health isn’t ridiculous if we could keep them in Louisville).
Little things like this can change our world.
11 responses so far ↓
1 warhorse // Jul 14, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Marks message is strong, his work is beautiful and compelling giving the message even more power because you are drawn to the animal in appreciation of its beauty to realize this dog no longer is upon this earth. Thank you so much for writing about him and his mission and bringing awareness to his project.
2 Mollie Whitehead // Jul 14, 2011 at 3:18 pm
OMG! Mark and Marina I cried again reading this article and looking at all you work to date. The problem in the US seems more daunting than ever, but with your dedication and the grace of GOD your dream and now many more who share the dream will see it realized.
3 Marina // Jul 14, 2011 at 5:03 pm
Jacob…Thanks for being a rare reporter, that writes stories of substance and reports with integrity. We appreciate you for coming to see our project, for having a meaningful conversation, where you listened and extracted the essence of the cause, and for having the balls to write about things that matter, in a candid and transparent way. Much gratitude to you!
Marina and Mark
4 Jeff // Jul 14, 2011 at 5:15 pm
This is truly amazing and such an eye opening experience by even just seeing how this project is being put together. The artists are awesome and thanks to Jake for putting this out there. I will definitely be spreading the word on this! Great job guys!
5 Terry Sullivan // Jul 14, 2011 at 5:47 pm
You are more worried about dogs that are about to die and finding lost corpses than you are about those who are living deprived lives. Sorry, but you’re not living in the real world. I’m more interested in catching criminals, making sure people aren’t living under bridges and making sure that the money I pay MSD and LWC go to maintaining infrastructure that we all rely upon than stray dogs. Your priorities are badly screwed. One more reason you’re a pinhead.
6 jake // Jul 14, 2011 at 7:45 pm
I’m in rare form today, old man, so bring it.
I would fuck you up if you had the guts to say shit like that to my face. Because I know I weigh at least 150 pounds less than you, am younger, more fit, box, lift weights and don’t have a care in the world.
P.S. Take your shit elsewhere. Or, better yet, just put yourself out of your misery. Jesus fucking christ.
7 jake // Jul 14, 2011 at 7:53 pm
Marina and Mark: Thank you for the kind words.
I just try to share things as I see them.
8 marie // Jul 15, 2011 at 12:25 am
I feel like it derives from the same mentality: people living under bridges, shabby and dangerous infrastructure, insane political games, bereft / damaged people doing desperate things. And the unthinkable plight of most animals in the world.
Though,I’ll go you one further, Terry Sullivan.
To those of us who truly love and respect animals, the images in this project can be seen as icons.
9 Turner // Jul 15, 2011 at 1:20 am
Terry Sullivan might be a jerk…we humans can care about more than one thing.
10 Amy // Jul 15, 2011 at 11:20 am
I think that if a person cannot see the connection between the situation with homeless pets and homeless people, criminals, etc. they are the ones in need of awakening. Take a sociology class or two. All of the woes are connected to corruption at the top. I work at a children’s mental hospital and have also worked at an animal shelter. The similarities are truly heartbreaking. This is a throw away society.
11 bestmid // Jul 17, 2011 at 8:07 pm
Terry Sullivan? Here? As if his asinine spewing in the craptastic CJ isn’t enough. Nothing like letting idiots write your newspaper for you.
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