...These stories are open...

Inspired by a conversation about a yearly “Furry” convention, deep in the Canadian wilderness, the initial spark for this work began.

Petelko recognized something both elemental and beautiful in the desire to seek connection through the symbolic inhabitation of animals. This was the point of departure. Steering away from the “Furry” subculture itself, she decided to broaden and expand this notion in a poetic and loose way; how it relates to us all in a larger sense.

Of particular interest was our desperate need for intimacy in an increasingly digital and isolated world. A collective longing to commune with the very nature that we are ever losing touch with, and at the same time consuming.

It was important for Laura Jane to photograph the creatures in pristine Canadian landscapes. Places where we can access a majesty that subsumes our human and sometimes awkward attempts at communion, enveloping us in it’s quiet indifference and spectacular beauty.

In meticulously hand-crafted costumes, designer Sara Wood collaborated with Laura Jane to create lush, sensual creatures that are deeply sincere and with a softness that arises from this human need for both protection from our world and a deeper connection to it.

This work is about the beautiful world that we tread upon with need and appetite. It eludes to the distance and isolation felt in today’s modern world and the beauty and longing that invariably exists behind the artifice, yearning to thrive.