Lisa MacDonald “Personification of Critters”

My name is Lisa MacDonald, and the title of my PhotoVoice project is the “Personification of Critters”. My participant for my PhotoVoice project is my friend and roommate Gianna DeSantis. She is 18 years old, and has lived in Florida for the past 3 years, after being born in Pennsylvania and also living in North Carolina for a brief period. She has always had an interest in environmental conservation, and because of this I value her insight on the content she has provided to me.

This is the first image provided by Gianna, taken in Orlando, Florida.

When analyzing Gianna’s thoughts on this image, the first thing I noticed was her personal emotions associated with describing the picture. In her personification of the crow as being an outcast, I believe her true character shows in her empathy for other living things. She mentioned not caring about how she looked in front of passersby while taking the photo, furthering the narrative that she needed to capture the picture with immediacy regardless of circumstance. Although crows and animals do not have the capacity to feel the same emotions that humans possess, Gianna’s relation to the single crow creates a personality for it regardless. I also believe that the peripheral background of the image being a building wall contributes at lot to the central message of the photo because of the near claustrophobic feel that the wall provides. In this, not only is the crow seemingly alone, but confined to the walls as well.

This is the second image provided by Gianna, also taken in Orlando, Florida.

After analyzing Gianna’s response to her second image, I believe the importance of self-care is the most significant aspect. Mental health is a problem in which the ever-growing awareness is prevalent now more than ever, and Gianna’s ability to acknowledge that aspect while looking at a creature as simple as a squirrel is admirable. Once again, her relation to the personification of the animals gives them life that they did not contain previously, strengthening their power. There does not even need to be acknowledgement of purposeful action on the squirrel’s end, considering it once again lacks the cognitive functioning required to do so, which I think is very beautiful and nearly life-changing.

This is the final image taken by Gianna, taken in my hometown of Tarpon Springs, Florida.

While looking at this final image description provided by Gianna, I believe that although this one is arguably the darkest, it is the most powerful. I believe this because it shows that even without the personification of the bug, Gianna’s sympathy shows her character and the type of person that she is. She acknowledges that although it is not something that she would normally care about, the fact that the bug is visibly dead still made her feel sad. Although death is not something most people would choose to think about, it is powerful nonetheless and exhibits the impact that creatures that are other than humans have.

Finally, after analyzing the three images provided by Gianna, I believe the main theme amongst all of her responses would be the personification of the animals included in the images provided. The importance of having animals to be personified is the most significant overall, which would not be possible with deforestation taking away the ecosystems of so many of animals like those pictured. In the article Inequality promotes deforestation in Latin America, the idea that “tropical deforestation is a major contributor to climate change and loss of local and global ecosystem functions” supports this claim in reference to the function of ecosystems (Ceddia, 1). Without the ecosystems for these animals to exist in, these animals would not be able to survive, or at least not as effectively. Especially in industrial areas such as Orlando, “mandating large protected areas” could contribute to even less loss of animals habitats, keeping our critters around and keeping them safe (Ceddia, 1).