Of Dogs and Daughters: Between Surrogate and Self

p { text-align: justify; } Of Dogs and Daughters presents the testimonies of artists and writers whose voices have been documented and gathered through mutual friendships and chance encounters. Combined with found materials, viewed from both canine and human perspectives, the book redefines the mother-daughter relationship through a surrogate lens. It explores images of closeness, anxiety and violence evoked by film franchises and other mechanisms of nostalgia production aimed at children and those who care for them. Contributions by artists Carmen Dusmet Carrasco and Simona Koutná and writer Susan van Veen are complemented by the reflections of witness Giuseppa and interspersed with excerpts from Dodie Smith’s novella One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1956). Each voice here represents a unique personal story unfolding against a backdrop of inadequate social support, single parenthood and the absence of carers, which serves as a point of reference on the path to inner emancipation. The book was created in 2022 as part of Simona Koutná’s doctoral research My Surrogate Self, which focuses on decoding how visual culture shapes female representation and self-identification. With this aim in mind, Koutná delves into her childhood pop-cultural idols dating back to the 1950s and rediscovers the nostalgia of her parents’ and grandparents’ generation, which intertwines with her own childhood experiences in the 1990s, with the aim of exploring how these ingrained archetypes resonate today. Susan van Veen’s editorial work brings together the interpretations and experiences of a fictional canine character and stories of motherhood experienced from the external perspective of a daughter—stories that do not always align with the internal perspective of the mother’s narrative. Through this content, womanhood is portrayed as a fragmentary experience that challenges the patriarchal construct of ‘woman’. This experience, full of blind spots - seen through both human and highly anthropomorphised canine eyes - travels through various locations, including Rome, northern Italy, Prague, The Hague, Amsterdam and London (Primrose Hill), and spans the period from 1950 to 2024.