LOS ANGELES, Aug. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ Jennifer MaHarry is not your typical wildlife photographer. For one thing, she's also an art director for Hollywood studios. This means she approaches creating images from a more graphic and design-oriented point of view. For another thing, not many Angelenos have tracked down mustangs in the wild, wild west.
Her current retrospective at the G2 Gallery (1503 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice) features Jennifer's work at its best, including large-scale portraiture almost as big as the horses themselves. The artist's reception (Sept. 5, 6:30pm - 9pm) is open to the public. The exhibit runs through Sept. 14.
One of Jennifer's goals is to educate the public about what's actually going on with wild horses in the U.S. at this time. While laws supposedly protecting wild horses have been on the books since the 1970s, increased pressure by the ranching industry has exploited loopholes, and over 50,000 wild horses have been rounded up by the Department of the Interior.
The Bureau of Land Management claims round-ups are for the horses' benefit, but the facts tell a different story. The BLM uses helicopters to run the horses in blistering heat, sometimes 20 miles at a time. Horses live in tightly-knit families, but during a typical round-up, families are broken up, traumatizing individual horses. Some horses die in the process. Ones who survive are trapped and transported to often inhumane holding facilities. Some horses are transported to Mexico, where they are slaughtered for meat. This is illegal according to United States federal law.
Jennifer has been with horses in the wild, and has also seen round-ups with her own eyes. "To watch them chased down and torn from their families is heartbreaking," she says. "They actually fight to get over the fences to get back together. Their families are just as important to them as ours are to us."
Jennifer hopes her images will help people connect with the horses, so that they develop an interest in what's really happening out on the plains, out of public view, with tax-payer money.
Information and images can be found on her website:
http://jennifermaharry.com
"This is an issue that will continue to be important long after this particular art show," Jennifer says. "The horses can't speak up but I can."
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140827/140379
SOURCE jennifermaharry.com
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