When creative director Mair Howells stumbled on an old archive called Cats and their Dykes featuring photographs of queer women and their cats in the 90s, they immediately knew they had to make a series of similarly-inspired portraits. Working with photographer Nessie Appleton, Dogs and their Dykes was born.
What originally started as Appleton and Howell’s sourcing and posting archive imagery of queer people with dogs on Instagram soon evolved into the duo shooting their own images of the UK’s lesbian community, celebrating the sacred connection between lesbians and their dogs. “[We were] inspired to capture the redefinition of family amongst the queer community,” they explain. “For queer people, we often choose our family, which extends to our loved pets. We began photographing friends, then friends of friends who could trust us, then finally we asked our audience and we are constantly meeting new people who we want to shoot.”
Portraits from the ongoing series have so far featured some familiar faces, such as curator Maggie Matić and their dogs Desmond and Lola, drag performer TeTe Bang and partner Ellise with their dogs Mochi and Toyko. Appleton and Howells are enthusiastic in encouraging people to get in touch if they want to shoot together.
With a steadily growing following, Appleton and Howells are grateful for the support of the queer community. “They really rally behind queer projects,” they say. “Lesbian representation is at the forefront of everyone’s mind at the moment – hello, lesbian renaissance – so there’s lots of space for lots of projects to co-exist!”
Naturally, Appleton and Howells have a dream list of dogs and their dykes they’d love to work with. “There are so many,” they exclaim. “It would be a dream to shoot Kate Moennig, Leisha Hailey and their dogs at Cubby Hole in New York. Kate and Leisha are dykons and dog lovers. Also Billie Eilish with their dog, in their family home. That would be so special to us.”
Visit the gallery above for a closer look.