Janner, Plymouth

The furry community is generally based on the idea of having a connection of identification with one or more anthropomorphic animals of choice (called fursonas). The fursonas are a mix of animal and human features or behavior and on occasion can subsume more than one animal. In all instances the fursonas are described in idealized terms: they hold positive moral values which are culturally attributed to certain species, such as loyalty for wolves, cunning for foxes or wisdom for dragons and they are occasionally endowed with supernatural abilities such as flight (where the respective species does not fly), immortality, time-traveling or inability to age. The main cultural influences that laid the basis for these animal representations can be traced back to pop culture productions such as Disney animation films or video games. This project is the topic of my artistic research PhD thesis which I am currently working on at the National University of Arts in Bucharest and it was developed thus far in the following countries: the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, France, Austria and Romania. The largest concentration of furries can be found in Western Europe and in North America, but with the advent of globalization the community started to spread to other parts of the world.
None of the participants to my study stays in character all the time or in any way thinks of their fursona as it is generally thought of identity. The fursona is not an internalized or naturalized self-representation which would enable the reenactment thereof outside the conscious decision of the subject. Identity proper – even if nowadays, after the postmodern/poststructuralist experience, it can no longer be construed as destiny and nature – requires such internalization and a certain stability over time. The most frequent explanation given for the fursona identification is reenacting it in a manner similar to an actor playing a role, in full awareness that one is human. This reenactment can be done by means of a fursuit (animal costume) or through role-playing in Second Life or other online platforms. The deliberate maintenance of this distance is dictated by individualism as the dominant ideology in western societies, translated into a constant drive for self-reinvention, with the conviction that one can be whom one choose. In addition, the last hundred of years has seen an unceasing social movement (especially in the 60s and 70s) targeting the change of public perception in relation to difference. While in the past being different instilled suspicion at best and was most of the time a reason for marginalizing and oppressing others, today's mentalities in the west have been trained to welcome and encourage difference (in terms of race, gender, sexuality etc). Gradually many have realized that there was a market in difference, since it had become desirable. In this fashion, symbols of marginals' struggle such as Che Guevara and the Intifada scarf have been turned into mass produced and widely available commodities. In this context, being different and marginal has slowly grown dissociated from being marginalized and having a low social status, thus furthering the proliferation of difference. The face of current western societies is a shape shifter, as the mainstream is now a fragmented and colorful puzzle.
In this context, although at first sight we might perceive the furry fandom as a marginal and strange group, their relationship to their fursonas is in actuality an extreme manifestation of the self-fashioning and difference-encouraging trend visible in western, globalized societies in different forms and to different degrees. This conclusion has informed the photographic representation I opted for in depicting the furries. The 360 degree panorama records without selection, it is de-centered and a-compositional. It treats the subject of the image with indifference, as if it were any other element of the spacial continuum. A striking apparition such as a person dressed in an animal costume is in the end – in the context of the stylistic indifference of the 360 degree panorama - a normal occurrence, just as normal as the other ordinary objects such as household items, buildings or trees which occupy the frame.