Trish Carney

Carney is a contemporary photographer whose primary focus in on animals and nature. What strikes me most about her work is the actually her artist's statement. She is a passionate and curious observer, with a deep interest in animals and how we interact with/think of them. I particularly enjoyed a series she did on dead animals, most roadkill. Dead things are just fun to look at. They're sort of alien to us, and I'm happy she gave roadkill so much attention because that's usually something we ignore or worsen with our own, clearly more significant lives.
She drew inspiration from an essay written by a Barry Lopez entitled Apologia in which he explored his own moral/emotional "upheaval" while picking up dead animals off the side of the road during a road trip. The quote she includes in her article on Lens Culture made me a little teary-eyed:

The thing that struck a chord within me in his essay was his telling of a man asking him "Why do you bother?” And his response was "You never know. The ones you give some semblance of burial, to which you offer an apology, may have been like seers in a parallel culture. It is an act of respect, a technique of awareness.”

What a wonderful sentiment. She put this series together as her own small act of awareness, which I feel is a dire need to hold on to within the arts.

Anyway, here's the full article and body of work: http://www.lensculture.com/carney.html