A&D ANNUAL 2021

Rei Conaglen

Rei Conaglen’s work explores how adopting a large, neglected dog has changed her approach to the everyday. By committing her practice to documenting the relationship between her and her dog ‘Mayo’, Rei seeks to narrate an archive of a multispecies everyday. The work interrogates the dominance of the human and the domestication of the dog, and the impact of these histories on the relationship between her and her dog. By documenting the process of becoming intertwined throughout everyday routines, Rei questions the autonomy of the human species. Throughout the complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rei’s dog became a lifeline. Like many other humans during this time of isolation, the comfort of a non-human companion has played a crucial role in mental and physical health and wellbeing.