zoo reflection

For my first visit to the zoo I was in a negative mind set. I was super critical of every little problem I saw because it was what I was suppose to do. The second time around I was a little calmer about it. The animals are in the position they are in and I doubt that there will be any real change because they are well cared for. My biggest problem was that some animals are made to seem like the main attraction, while other animals are given what almost seems second rate attention because they do not have the same 'product' i.e sea birds and penguins vs gorillas. I'm just looking for an even playing field for all the animals.-Michael Akshay Braunlin

Kerry Yang:
I was assigned to be one of the cons before our first visit to the Lincoln Park Zoo.
After the zoo readings, I was led to believe with the critique that zoo was somehow built to fulfill people's curioscity towards exoticism and was a cultural byproduct of colonialism.
Having that belief in mind; however, I changed my attitude towards zoos after the first visit. I guess it's one of the magical power why zoos attract people from all ages. When I first saw a young giraffe starring at me with his innocent eyes wide open, I felt a sense of sympathy and loving towards him. I had an urge to pet him the way I'd pet a new born baby. A sense of nostalgia came to me, recalling some bits of childhood zoo-visiting memories. I wanted to spend more time, simply to observe him and wonder about the similarities and differences between him and me.
For me, it was definitely a very pleasant time to walk around the zoo, immersing myself in this land of nature with animals, plants and sun.
I came to believe the importance of the recreational aspect of zoos and wonder about why we can't view zoos as an art museum-like place where people simply go and enjoy the the beauty of animals and try to have some inner conversation within themselves by looking at the living creatures.
During the second visit to the park, I began to wonder about the relationship between a zoo and an art-museum and the meanings of men's visit to these institutes.
There is a gap between preserving a piece of art work and a group of rare animals.
An art work is a manifestation of an artist's vision, holding its values and philosophies to reflect each individual artist's belief from that time period. Even when an artist is dead, what's unique about the piece is the mighty voice behind that work of art.
An art-musueme goer is meant to challenge the mortality of men and to be amazed by the immortality of artistic creation.
On the other hand, a group of living animals are the art work itself, the magical creation made by a greater being. In a sense, we should go to the zoo with a humble mind as if we are going to see another type of living creatures like humans. We are asked to appreciate them and to have a mutual exploration of each other.
But rather than see it as an object that is made to be utilized and to convey ideas.
In other words, a zoo goer is meant to challenge the gap between different types of living creatures and to be amazed by the force of creation itself. -Kerry Yang