The Feral Cat Feeding Stations

On this visit, we were also able to view two of the feeding stations which serve as the physical symbol of the connection between these volunteers and the feral cats. The cats have been born in the wild, and consequently they are not responsive to human contact. The people never come into actual contact with the cats, their only point of physical connection occurs through this object (the feeding station). The station itself, constructed of tradition house-building material as well as formally resembling a human house, became very interesting to us as an object which seemed to gesture to the inherent confusion in the relationship between humans and these animals, simultaneously domestic in its appearance, yet respectful of the independent nature of the feral.

The Headquarters

Another point of interest which we learned on our visit to the headquarters, centered on the practice of trapping these cats in order to have them spayed and neutered. After this process has been completed, one of the cat's ears is clipped to indicate that they have been spayed/ neutered. They are then returned to their colony. This operation improves the health and reduces the quantity of these cats, but the physical alteration of their bodies provides a symbolic difference between these animals and their truly wild counterparts.

Visiting and Accompanying the Volunteers

Once we determined that we definitely wanted to pursue a relationship with the feral cat feeding program, we scheduled a visit during which two members of our group were able to follow one of the volunteers on her daily feeding route. We continued to document these visits, both for the exhibit and to review as a group. We were all fascinated by the variety of locations of these feeding stations; junkyards, shipyards, residences, etc. We were equally captivated by the idea of this woman, a volunteer for twelve years, going to each of these strange, isolated places week after week, creating relationships between these locations through her circulation over time.