Animals are the perfect metaphor to criticise human culture – they act as a non- biased and inoffensive universal language. Envisioning a cat conforming to our social norms is so absurd that it simultaneously raises questions about our own social identities. 9 Lives identifies the link between our obsession with cats and their tendency to mimic our human personalities, as recently discovered by scientific studies. Through this construct and the use of quintessentially British clichés, the images are a reflection of us — a critique through the anthropomorphism of cats, offering a light-hearted and humorous inquiry into the ridiculousness of many of our social mores within today’s society.

As cats are so untrainable, the very image of a cat conforming to our social standards is farcical in itself, that it heightens the ridiculousness of human stereotypes that we associate with social identity. Despite how clichéd and unrealistic stereotypes are, they are still widely used and recognised even though they are fabricated personalities built on judgement and preconceived ideas.

The project as a whole comprises of 9 portraits of my family's cats dressed as stereotypes that most suit their personality.