A Closer Look at Chattel by Kevin Horan

Chattel is photographer Kevin Horan’s unique series featuring sheep and goats. Yep, you read that right, if it goes baa, he’s shot it…with a camera. The series started when Kevin noticed a particularly photogenic sheep owned by his next-door-neighbor. He asked permission to take a shot of the sheep and the neighbor agreed.

It occurred to Kevin that popular media is full of pictures cats and dogs but consists very little of sheep and goats. They are, apparently, one of the most artistically marginalized groups of barnyard animals.

A former resident of Chicago, Kevin moved to Whidbey Island, Washington where he met his first bearded subject. These days, most of his subjects are residents of New Moon Farm Goat Rescue in Arlington. He drives out to the rescue shelter with a portable studio and a couple of assistants to give the goats and sheep their just share of the limelight.

Never have goats (and sheep) been so glamorously shot.

I don’t know if a make-up artist tagged along but they definitely brought along a hairdresser. The subject’s normally tousled locks became elaborately coiffed and combed. Who would have ever thought goats would clean up well? Kevin said: “There’s wonder in the world, just as it is. The fun is to look around and find it.”

Chattel has been chosen by Photolucida’s Critical Mass Top 50 for 2014. One of the photos for the series was acquired by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

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