Dougie Wallace has turned his camera on man’s best friend and the strange world of ‘pet parents’. Dogs, and his pursuit of them, have taken him to London, Milan, New York and Tokyo. Anthropomorphic 'parents' can spend as much on accessorising and grooming their ‘offspring’ as they would on themselves.
Dougie Wallace has used his observation and wit to portray this phenomenon in his new series Well Heeled. Wallace’s dogs have human expressions and are strong characters, who, with their knowing looks, can even appear to play to camera. Well Heeled captures details from a dog’s eye view that we bipeds would not usually see. Behind the coiffured and pampered ‘children in fur coats’ the focus is on their claws, paw pads, incisors, drool-drenched beards and wet noses. Their canine traits erupt throughout the photographs and leave the viewer in no doubt that they are animals who would rather chase a ball or chew bones than be dressed up with crystal collars, Louis Vuitton leads and pushed around in prams.
Acknowledged as one of UK’s leading photographers, Dougie Wallace has published four successful books in the last three years – Stags, Hens & Bunnies, Road Wallah and Harrodsburg (Dewi Lewis Publishing) and Shoreditch Wildlife (Hoxton Mini Press) and has featured in major exhibitions in Europe, the United States and India. He continues to attract considerable press and media attention and his photographs feature regularly in leading international publications. In March 2017, BBC TV screened a 30 minute documentary about him as part of the series What Do Artists Do All Day. The programme followed Dougie on the streets of Knightsbridge as he completed work on his Harrodsburg book.
