Green Porno: Thinking like an animal?

Isabella Rossellini interprets animals' sexuality in her Green Porn videos.

For bed bugs, Rossellini is dressed in a red custom that resembles a bed bug. The story tells us how bed bugs view beds as a living space, how it reproduces, and how it interacts with human bodies for food. The video begins with a knife being caressed on Rossellini’s face. She asks, “What am I? A bed bug?” Rossellini turns from her human custom to her bed bug custom to tell us a story about bed bugs. The setting of the video is imaginative and real. On one hand, Rossellini’s human presence is inevitable because she is obviously dressed as an animal (no one could be fooled). Paper bed bugs and a scale-model of a house are used to create the setting in this story. On the other hand, the story becomes “real” because of the embedded information about animal behavior.

Rossellini takes anthropomorphism to another level. There is a mix of anthropomorphism with animality that makes the videos insightful and provocative. The story is told from both a human and animal perspective. There is something ridiculous about the act, but also very profound. The anthropomorphism is not just to give human qualities to an animal or in this case a bug. It is about an attempt to try to understand bed bug’s perspective of its world.

In A foray into the Worlds of Animals and Humans, Jakob Von Uexkull, explored this act of animal perspective. Uexkull work is important because he explored how animals experiences life through space. Uexkull argues that certain animals see more than others… How we interact with space is how a world to each creature comes to be. So my world is more rich because I am a mammal that visually sees a lot of objects, while a fly may not be as important because it only sees a few things in its world. While this may be true, I do not agree that because some animals see more, it can be used as a measurement tool to think about intelligence or superiority or even feelings.

Rossellini, to me, makes it a lot more interesting because her stories about animal sexuality are told from a human perspective, but also takes into account animal behavior. She becomes-animal, but she does not ignore her being human. Because of this, the Green Porn videos make us questions how humans have imposed their morals to nature, and our relation to it.

Eating Animals

Photo: Bull from Nebraska | © Diana M. Sanchez

It is difficult to think of a live animal while you eat a meat meal. A couple of summers ago, I took a trip to a remote ranch in the plains of Colombia. Everything we ate was killed for us. The people in this region eat beef for all their meals. The first morning, I was excited to have a typical breakfast that includes meat. By breakfast number three my stomach was having culture shock. It was also the first time in my adult life that I saw a cow being slaughter. I was in this ranch because my family has a historical connection to it and I was also interested to learn more about how food gets to our plates.

Before my trip to South America, I had photographed in farms and ranches in Nebraska to look and learn about farm animals. The farms I photographed were individually owned, as those were my connections. The people, I found out, were very nice and welcoming, and their only concern was that they didn’t want to be seen as the “bad” guys. I was simply curious and eager to see how some animals live in farms. Michael Pollan in An Animal’s Place writes, “ Half the dogs in America will receive Christmas presents this year, yet few of us will pause to consider the miserable life of the pig – an animal easily as intelligent as a dog – that becomes the Christmas ham.” Even though I had lived in Lincoln, Nebraska, a place most people think is only farmland, I knew nothing about farms or where the food I ate came from.

I enjoyed traveling in a car listening to music, meeting people, and feeling like a complete stranger. In a way, it was not that different than my daily life. After moving countries several times, I have come to terms with always being seen as an outsider. In the essay On the other side of the Mexican mirror, Gomez-Pena writes, “I found that once you cross the border you could never really go back. Whenever I tried, I always ended up “on the other side,” as if walking on a moebious strip.” I couldn't say it any better.

I went to these farms and photographed animals without any expectations. I mostly saw where animals were kept and groomed. Most of all, I learned how the people who took care of the animals had affection for them. They cared for the well being of their animals. The ranch in the plains of Colombia was no different. Everyone working with the cattle did with much care. The ranching practices were somewhat different. Cows had enormous amounts of space and only ate grass.

This trip was physically and mentally difficult. The day a cow was killed for food I thought it was a great opportunity to photograph. I was not use to seeing live animals before they became food. Eating only vegetables and grains was out of the question because there were barely any. Meat was the biggest portion on your plate. The day I saw a cow being slaughter for the first time I was not able to click the shutter. It felt wrong. I wanted to be respectful for this cow that died to feed us.

What is Nature? What does Nature mean to me?

My photographic work has one way or another dealt with animals in human spaces. In the past two years, more specifically, I photographed at zoos and museums. Although an interest for animals brought me to these two institutions, I have found through the course of researching about animals that it is impossible not to talk about Nature too. You cannot separate one from another.

Defining “animal” is a lot easier. I think of an animal as anything that has life, but it is not a plant. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “a living organism which feeds on organic matter, typically having specialized sense organs and nervous system and able to respond rapidly to stimuli.” A plant is define as “a living organism of the kind exemplified by trees, shrubs, herbs, grasses, ferns, and mosses, typically growing in a permanent site, absorbing water and inorganic substances through its roots, and synthesizing nutrients in its leaves by photosynthesis using the green pigment chlorophyll.” Animals and plants are in different categories. We do not stop to think of the pain of plants when picking a flower, but we do think animal pain. Relating to animals is also easier because we react to their emotions. Any one who has ever had a dog or a cat could never say that animals do not feel pain, happiness, joy, and sadness or those they are curious beings too.

Defining nature is difficult. It is mostly because we think of nature as anything that has nothing to do with humans. But could we really separate ourselves from nature? Or aren’t we part of it? And why is location important in the definition of it? I am writing in my studio that is surrounded by drywalls without a window. There are no living organisms in my space or at least none that the naked eye could see. I believe by definition this is not nature. Although, the materials that make up the books, table, tape, paper and so on around me are made of natural resources. The nature that is around me is just not raw; it is processed nature. Does anyone in the world would be able to walk from point A to point B without ever seeing a glimpse of nature? That is a plant, an ant or a mosquito? I have my doubts.

So we think of Nature with a capital N as this other place far from industrial or urban spaces. People travel to Alaska, Costa Rica, the American West to experience “nature.” The wanting to travel or to be with nature is one that I am curious about. Americans have done a great job at organizing campsites for people to be in nature while vacationing. Basic necessities such as running water and electricity are provided for fees at the sites. I honestly understand the electric plugs. I have been without electricity before, and it is not fun. We often take for granted being able to have ice for a cold drink during a hot day.

My photographing at zoos and natural history museums has been a way for me to understand nature and the way Americans relate to it. I am part of the American culture and I am also an outsider. I did not grow up with the modern zoo, but I did grow up in countries people visit for nature tourism. And, I too thought of Costa Rica as being more of a natural landscape more so than any other place I lived. If I define nature as place that humans have little to do with… then I am not sure if I have ever visited that place. If I ever go to this place, then my human body is present, and the place could no longer be nature. I rather say that I am always in nature. However, I also cannot say that nature is everything. My studio is not nature… but a backyard could be?

If there is anything that I have come to understand, is that the human/animal or human/nature relation is bigger than me, and I am not sure if I can truly understand it, as it is not a rational relation. Everything about it is irrational.


Digital drawing by Diana M Sanchez.