Contemporary documentary photography with an activist and ethical approach.

Estela de Castro uses portraiture to restore dignity, individuality, and presence to animals usually seen through systems of exploitation rather than as subjects.

THE ANIMALS is a photographic project by Estela de Castro, photographer and activist, built around beauty, dignity, and empathy.

The complete project includes 122 portraits of animals photographed over two years in sanctuaries and rescue, protection, and care centres. For Matadero Madrid, the exhibition presents a selection of 22 photographs.

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Animals portrayed as individuals, not symbols

Faces marked by vulnerability, strength, and survival

Stories connected to hunting, livestock farming, experimentation, trafficking, zoos, circuses, exotic pets, cinema, and other systems of exploitation

Portraits that work as both personal testimony and collective memory

The result is quiet, direct, and emotionally uncomfortable — in the best possible way.

Yes — especially if you believe art can change how we see other living beings.

Because this exhibition challenges speciesism and asks us to rethink our relationship with animals, not through shock, but through presence.

It matters because the portraits don’t reduce animals to victims. They give them a face, a gaze, and a story.

And because it is outdoors and free, it turns Matadero into a public space for empathy — art that can reach people who may not have planned to enter a museum.

Don’t rush past the images → treat each animal as a portrait

Look at the eyes first, then the body language

Read the exhibition as testimony, not decoration

Notice how beauty and discomfort coexist

Let the outdoor setting change the experience: this is art meeting public life