Junior / Senior Projects
Chinquapin Preparatory School
Fighting BSL and Dog Discrimination Through Art.
Carolina Coreas, Class of 2019
For a long time I have been concerned about a law called Breed Specific Legislation (or BSL for short) which affects certain breeds of dogs in some states in the U.S. and even in other countries. Before I began to research over this topic, I knew a bit of what BSL is and why it exists. During my research, I learned more about how awful and unjust BSL truly was aside from just banning the listed breeds. I learned how BSL did the opposite of the intended purpose to protect the community from dog bites and attacks. In reality, BSL makes the problem of shelter overcrowding and the amount of dog fighting worse. BSL preys off of fear mongering spread by the media and the ignorance of society as well as the continuous existence of irresponsible and inhumane owners. My research dived deeper into finding numbers and figures from other veterinary behavior research journals and statistics derived from the regions in which BSL is enforced. The numbers showed how BSL shockingly keeps a cycle turning in which at every phase, the dog ends up a victim of it and rarely receives the attention it needs.
This is the first piece named, Torture and Greed.
After writing a lengthy essay that compiled the research I had done, I got to work on the beef of my project. I recall wanting to do a project with an impact in the past that had to do with animals and involved my experience with art, so I decided to make my project centered around the theme of perception. Perception is a broad theme and can mean different things to many people. I took advantage of this theme and my artistic talents and started a mission to change the perception of people over discriminated breeds of dogs into a positive one. My first piece was the reality that many dogs had to suffer and to me was a bridge to showing people the true colors of dog breeds such as the American Pit Bull Terrier in contrast to what the news media portrays. I made sure to use eye-catching colors and textures as well as mimic different styles from famous artists such as Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, and Johannes Vermeer. At one point of my project, my older sister had collaborated with me to re-create our version of John Trumbull's painting, Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. In one piece I had even received some inspiration from the band, Queen. My final mission is to not only direct the attention of people to my art, but to also encourage them to protest against BSL and possibly purchase my pieces in order to donate the money to a shelter in Houston.
This piece is the third piece of the collection named, Depiction of the Banned Breeds In the Style of Andy Warhol.
My name is Carolina Coreas and I am from the Class of 2019 at Chinquapin Preparatory School and the creator of this project. A little bit of my childhood that has stayed with me since I was younger has been my love for animals and my love for art. I have been making all kinds of art since I was around 4 years old and I have also been fascinated by the animals that exist on our Earth. My style of art varies but most of my pieces in this project and outside of it have a similar atmosphere which is a youthful one. Some may view my art as unprofessional and childish but I view it as the manifestation of the kid in my heart and how it grows up without losing its youthful spark. As an animal lover, it hurts me to see that some of our population does not seem to be willing to learn more about some animals and coexist in a healthy environment and instead does harm to our Earth without considering the consequences in the long run. Due to this, I believe that I could at least make an impact in my community by giving the dogs discriminated by people a voice to defend them against ignorance.
