Only few animals can comfort us in such a profound and calm way as the meek looking, frankly bleating sheep. Painted in bucolic idylls, where it is accompanied by the longing character of the shepherd, as well as the patient carrier of the Gospel, it is also seen as a symbol for fate. Eckhard Fuhr intends to release the sheep from its everlasting role of the victim. Since Dolly, the first ever cloned animal, the Agnus Dei got an eerie brother challenging the order of creation. Fuhr‘s portrait narrates the cultural history of the centuries-old cohabitation of humankind and sheep, faithfully accompanied by the dog. Thereby, something hidden in the animal and it‘s lifestyle surfaces, from which we can learn – despite of all bleating: a culture of sustainability, which we are supposed to maintain if we want to survive our exploitation of nature.
Eckhard Fuhr, born in 1954, studied history and sociology before working as an editor for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Since 2010, he is stringer at Die Welt's culture and society departments. The dedicated huntsman also published a book about wolves.
"This is a tribute to a companion without whom our world would look different: the story of a culture- and meaning-giving being for whose stoic meekness there is less and less room in the present. Fuhr releases the sheep from the humiliation of collective perception [...]." - Fritz Habekuß, Zeit Wissen
