Prior to the preeminence of sticks, swords and the Hero's long, hard, killing tools, our ancestors' greatest invention was the container: the basket of wild oats, the medicine bundle, the net made of your own hair, the home, the shrine, the place that contains whatever is sacred. The recipient, the holder, the story. — URSULA K. LE GUIN, The Carrier Bag of Fiction.

... my fiction wrestles with our collective emotional capacity to feel a sense of awe and protection for the environment and the possible tragedies awaiting us if we don’t pay attention to the warnings before us. MARGARET ATWOOD

It is the job of artists to open doors and invite in prophesies, the unknown, the unfamiliar; it’s where their work comes from, although its arrival signals the beginning of the long disciplined process of making it their own. Scientists [...] transform the unknown into the known, haul it in like fishermen; artists get you out into that dark sea. — REBECCA SOLNIT, A Field Guide to Getting Lost

Animal Allegories

Transformative Tales for Troubling Times

About Us

Collaborating as Animal Allegories, Zoë Sadokierski and Ceridwen Dovey craft stories that are experimental, visually surprising and a little strange. These tales of animal entanglements will make you think and feel anew about the world around us. As our species adapts to frightening new ecological realities, and as we fight to keep the future liveable for all creatures, the power of imagination plays a critical, if underappreciated, role.

We know stories can't save the world. But they can provide moments of respite, transporting us into an imaginative realm where new possibilities shimmer briefly into view.

We are working on storytelling projects with a range of Australian museums. This site hosts our more off-kilter storytelling experiments, which lean more towards fable than fact.

Ceridwen Dovey

Ceridwen Dovey is a Sydney-based writer of fiction and creative non-fiction, and a filmmaker. She writes essays for several publications, including newyorker.com, WIRED, and the Smithsonian Magazine, and loves to collaborate with other artists.

www.ceridwendovey.com

Zoë Sadokierski

Zoë Sadokierski is a Sydney-based designer, writer, creative producer and Associate Professor at the UTS School of Design. Her artist's books and works on paper have been exhibited and collected internationally. Her favourite animal is the weedy seadragon.

www.zoesadokierski.com

Captives

Captives

In which a platypus and a naturalist discuss colonial collection practices

Menopausal Mammals

Menopausal Mammals

In which a killer whale and a pilot whale discuss menopause

Curious Encounter

Curious Encounter

In which a human drummer encounters a drumming cockatoo

Lungfish Classifieds

Lungfish Classifieds

In which expatriate lungfish write to lonely hearts columns

Octopus Within

Octopus Within

In which an octopus is discovered to lurk within all of us