The Refusal
The Refusal (2003 - ongoing) is a collection of artworks including photographs, stereoscopic installations and projections, moving image and performance.
“Maybe the target nowadays is not to discover what we are, but to refuse what we are“. Michel Foucault
This study of the British whippet explores the competitive world of the show dog. The shaping of the domestic dog has a history in nineteenth century Eugenics, a movement closely linked with the invention of photography. The eugenic obsession of the breeders seeking to create the perfect dog, taps into contemporary concerns about genetic modification and cloning. Longhurst’s study of the whippet asks many questions of our present engagement with the animal, and the resulting cross-species relationships in which power, control, love and desire are intertwined. While questioning conventions of portraiture and photography, Longhurst’s artworks provide a serious contribution to the ongoing inquiry into human subjectivity through their systematic re-evaluation of our relationship to our pets.
First shown as a solo exhibition in 2008 at Museum Folkwang, Essen, The Refusal continues to evolve as new works are added.
The Steidl Verlag exhibition catalogue, designed by Julia Melzner, has 66 colour plates, an introduction by Ute Eskildsen, and an artist's text.
The Refusal has been made possible through the generous support of Museum Folkwang, Essen; Rootstein Hopkins Foundation; Royal College of Art, London; and The Whippet Club of Great Britain.
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