Street dog exhibit finds home in downtown San José
“Ewok was rescued from a street vent, and all of his teeth were missing.” This is the tragic background given on a sign next to one of the six cast-iron dog caricatures now lining downtown San José, Costa Rica’s pedestrian walkway. Paying homage to the one million abandoned dogs roaming Costa Rica, the sculptures are on permanent display along Central Avenue.
“It’s a wolf,” shouted a boy who must have been about four years old. He was pointing at “Oso” who wore a lion-like mane. The description said that Oso walks around with an injured leg and belongs to a homeless person in the park. Seeing something more playful, the young boy jumped up to sit on Oso’s back while smiling at his parents who pulled out a cell phone to capture the moment.
When I first noticed the light-hearted way in which most people engaged with the sculptures, I thought the more serious message was being lost. Many of these animals wander the streets diseased and ravaged by hunger. In my neighborhood, we agreed that nobody would put trash out the night before a pickup to control what is a sanitation problem when the dogs rip apart the bags.
Looking again at people careening their heads to make sense of Oso’s contorted leg and then reading the description, I saw something different. Interacting with the depictions of street dogs in this playful context might generate more compassion for their plight. With increased compassion, perhaps more people will consider spaying and neutering their dogs as well as adopting ones that have been abandoned.
What do you think? Would you adopt a street dog? Why, or why not?
The sculptures were created by Costa Rican artist Francisco Munguía, who has given a home to 23 street dogs. Support also came from Noah’s Ark Animal Welfare Association, the Municipality of San José and Pets y Más magazine.
As a lifelong dog owner and lover of dogs, I found the exhibit incredibly important and heartbreaking. Yet it draws people in through color and whimsy and compels them to understand the art, which generally leads to people’s reading the descriptions. Kudos to the city of San Jose and Francisco Munguia. May this exhibit help save the lives of dogs throughout Costa Rica.
Thanks for your comment, Catherine. I, too, hope that the exhibit helps. I also think this would be an important “traveling exhibit” as there are many countries facing similar issues.
What a brilliant exhibit! Congratulations to the city of San Jose, the sponsors and the artist, Francisco Munguía. We were strolling along the street as typical tourists and were drawn in by the colorful, whimsical sculptures. When we began translating the plaques beside each of them we were very moved. The brilliance of this exhibit is the way it draws you in to consider such a powerful, tragic issue.
While you are correct in saying some of the message may be lost because most people don’t realize what the exhibit represents, for those of us who spent just a few minutes longer and who can read Spanish, we found the exhibit to be genius!