Who Wags the Dog

Who Wags the Dog (2004) plays on the English expression "tail wagging the dog" — where a small part controls the whole — reversing it into a question of agency and control.

Strik frequently engages with themes of power and the relations between things. His textile interventions into photographs can be seen as acts of control — adding to, altering, transforming the original — yet they also reveal the ways in which the artist is controlled by materials and images themselves.

The dog imagery connects to loyalty, domestication, and the relationship between humans and animals. Who wags the dog — does the human wag the dog, or does the dog wag the human? This extends to all relationships of apparent control.

Sources: Galerie Fons Welters