When Equus met Hermes

The play by Peter Shaffer, where a psychiatrist attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological sexual obsession with horses, is reminiscent of the work of US photographer Monica Stevenson she uses luxury goods such as Tiffany bracelets and Hermes Scarves on and next to equines as the focus for some of her major work.

This piece of a horse wearing a luxury scarf ‘Hermes Scarf Horse’ won Stevenson a place in the ‘Advertising photographers of America’. The piece makes you ask questions such as, is the horse alive? What is around the ears? also touching on animals rights in fashion. It grabs you and makes you look at the scarf, it captures your interest in a way that a model on a catwalk would not.

A lot of Monica’s personal work extends to equine photography and so it was a natural progression for her to mix her work in advertising for luxury brands such as Tiffany and Co, Cartier, Hermes and Gucci with her love for horses.

Stevenson is toying with us, daring us to keep watching, to keep delving? Stevenson dares you to step that little bit closer and then shows you all of the piece.

The work does have a cruel edge to it, somewhat evil with the hair wound tightly around leather straps and saddle stirrups.

Stevenson’s use of insects, typically reviled in fashion is also very beautiful. She dares the observer to keep watching and in that, exposes the underbelly of each piece and holds it up for closer inspection.

What I love about her work is that it encapsulates a story in each shot, takes you into a fairytale world of Stevenson’s making, and although this world may not be a beautiful one much like the mind of Equus’s young hero, it is an intriguing one, and one that you seek to understand and return to again and again.