Passion Can Be Destroyed – ULLA DEVENTER

Stories of unspoken violence.

Work in progress, Accra, Ghana.

„Passion can be destroyed” looks into the human-horse bond as a reflection of the tension between trust and control, more precisely, the parallels of domestic violence and animal abuse with the attempt to find new perspectives on social violence and understanding its roots. Thereby learning from the horse as a prey animal and its highly developed senses and strong ability for community bulding. This work is moreover inspired by women around the globe who have entrusted me their stories, as well as my own experiences.

The human-horse bond is rooted in military and warfare. Up to date, our connection to horses is very much on a thin line between our longing for freedom, beauty, and strength, and at the same time our wish to be in control of this majestic being. A horse can be a site to escape, as a phantasy in a teenage room or out in nature, it can also be a silent victim of our will to abuse our position of power, because a horse suffers in silence, communicates through body language alone.

This work aims to address these subtle notes of violence and how they are as well represented within our inter-human relationships. Humans like horses are mammals with shared needs to feel safe, to belong, and to bond. Mental illnesses like depression or so-called learned helplessness have a similar pattern in horses and humans.

Ulla Deventer, July 2023