On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day
On the Sixth Day

On the Sixth Day

Alessandra Sanguinetti

MACK

£55.00 GBP
Select Edition

Alessandra Sanguinetti’s On the Sixth Day offers us a glimpse of life on a small Argentine farm from the perspective of its animals. Often photographed close to the earth, the images render the courage, struggles, and adventures of chickens, pigs, horses, and cows. We see them newly born, at play, vying with each other for food, their fate always uncertain as human presences inevitably loom above. With their rich, almost surreal colour, these photographs evoke traditional fables or classic children’s books in which animals enact human behaviours to teach moral lessons. Yet Sanguinetti portrays these animals as individuals in their own right, each with their own mysterious spirit, relating their lives from birth to death with an unsentimental and direct gaze.

First published in 2005 and now out of print, this new and expanded edition of On the Sixth Day includes additional unseen images.

Special edition available here

Embossed buckram
hardcover with tipped-in image
30 x 32cm, 96 pages

ISBN 978-1-915743-16-9
September 2023
€65 £55 $65

The signed edition was signed by the artist on press in Italy in June 2023.

‘The beauty of these photographs and the flashes of tenderness are what makes this a work of truth.’ The Financial Times 

‘This work is dedicated to the extraordinary life of farm animals. For all that they go through and all that we take from them.’ The Guardian 

‘In each breath-taking image, there is a full tableau vivant—an allegory or fable that brings the animals’ daily dramas to light.’ Vanity Fair 

‘The book is in score, there are no obvious narrative lines but rather associative and rhythmic movements that innervate it, giving it overall breath and meaning. The images speak – but they speak for themselves.’ Limina 

‘Due to the industrialisation of farming methods, there is hardly any connection to animals anymore … [Sanguinetti] provides contrast to factory farming and industrial slaughter [as we know it].’ Monopol 

‘There is definitely tenderness, innocence and pure beauty in On the Sixth Day … this series is not an indictment against meat eating or animal husbandry. There is no judgment in it.’ De Standaard 

‘[This is] an honest account of the lives of farm animals, told directly and without romanticisation.’ Il Post  

‘[This is] a visual poem loaded with both tenderness and violence, where both the dichotomy of the natural world and the power relationship between man and animal are expressed.’ El País

‘Every image, even the most banal, is a sort of denial of death.’ Domani

‘It’s striking how rarely, in photographic bodies of work and art in general, animals appear as the main characters.’ Tank Magazine 

‘An unfiltered view of death goes hand in hand with a poetic tale about rural life, and nature’s wisdom.’ Blind Magazine

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