“From the moment man chose him to be the companion of his infinite enterprise, the horse was quick to reflect the style, taste, and inclinations of each civilisation in his own physique, gait and even colour.” Luigi Gianoli, from ‘Horse and Man’.

Gall – a painful swelling, especially in a horse; a sore due to chafing; a state or cause of irritation; a chafed place; a bare place; a flaw; a fault or a dyke; to fret or hurt by rubbing: to irritate; to become chafed; to scoff.

“I look at the horse, I see myself; the image I reflect from others around me. The parody of pornography becomes pornography. The metaphor becomes that which it replaces. The symbol takes on the role of its meaning. I tried to photograph how I felt, in turn those images confirm what I am supposed to be – do not believe them as the truth of what I am. How can I show you what I am questioning, without condoning the very thing itself?” Maria Short 1995

‘Gall’ won the Tom Buckeridge Photography Prize in 1995 and was exhibited at the Northbrook Gallery in Worthing later that year.

© Maria Short