Photographer defends horror portraits of dogs under animal welfare law

Photographer Salla Kuikka says she will continue making horror portraits of animals, arguing that smearing dogs with blood and clay does not break the law. Yle reports that Finland’s animal welfare law, which took effect in 2024, bans dyeing an animal to change its appearance.

Kuikka applies cold clay and melted cattle blood to an assistant’s face and clothes, and uses the same materials on dogs to make them look like the living dead in photographs. She says she smears and masks the animals rather than dyeing them, and that the materials wash off with water. She also says real blood unsettles many people, while artificial blood would be poisonous if an animal swallowed it.

Yle asked Kuikka not to dress up the Afghan hound waiting in her car for its shoot. The outlet is publishing only her animal photographs taken before 2024, when the previous animal protection law did not prohibit dyeing animals.

The new law does not specify which substances fall under the ban. Its purpose, according to the law’s rationale, is to promote respectful treatment of animals and prevent them from being used as props or presented as something other than animals for human entertainment.

Tarja Koskela, a doctor of law at the University of Eastern Finland, says changing an animal’s appearance in this way goes against the law’s aim of respectful treatment. The substance does not need to cause pain or irritation, she says; applying it to the animal is enough. Venla Mathlein, chair of the Finnish Animal Rights Lawyers Association and a legal researcher at the University of Turku, says the ban reflects concern that such practices serve human entertainment rather than animal welfare.

Koskela says it is problematic that dyeing an animal is not defined as a punishable offence. Authorities can prohibit conduct that violates the law, and may impose a conditional fine if it continues. Experts say there is no legal precedent interpreting the dyeing provision.

Kuikka, who lives in Turku and is originally from Central Finland, has made horror-themed animal photographs as a hobby for years. She says shoots follow the animal’s lead, with breaks, and stop if the situation becomes unsafe or the dog is no longer enjoying itself. She says she considers the work art and self-expression, and sees a contradiction in criticism of her images when social media also features pets wearing sunglasses or Santa hats.