Alessandra Sanguinetti’s vivid photographs depicting the coexistence of people and animals might at first sight seem brutal, images to be viewed quickly and erased from the memory. But that would be not only impossible but also a great loss, for here is an arrestingly honest portrayal of the relationship between man and beast as the one raises the other for the ultimate sacrifice. These are not animals endowed with human qualities; they are someone’s livelihood, their means of survival. Sanguinetti took these pictures in a province of Buenos Aires. Here, by roadsides, in fields and in woods, she observed the rituals and traditions of the local farmers whose lives interweave with a host of animals – rabbits, horses, pigs, geese, lambs, cows, chickens – caught in the cycle that is life and death. The work in On the Sixth Day goes beyond straight documentary practice and evokes an intimacy that, confounding our sensibilities, it is a privilege to share. With an essay by Robert Blake, Chair of the General Studies Program at the International Center of Photography, New York. On the sixth day, as recounted in the Bible, God created the creatures of the earth, and man named them. Brilliantly titled in reference to that day, this monograph explores the complex relationship between man and domesticated animals. Sanguinetti’s photographs are absolutely gorgeous and compel the reader to witness the entire life and death cycle of the farm animals of her native Argentina. She reveals a challenging, rural way of life where livestock are raised and consumed as part of a larger, necessary way of living off the land. Most of the photographs are shot from ground level, mimicking an animal’s point of view. Throughout, we see the weatherworn hands and threadbare clothing of the farmers at the edges of the photographs, metaphorically and literally surrounding the animals. Sanguinetti’s aesthetic and color palette draw attention to the beautiful forms of the animals, but she never lets us forget that these animals are captive—living and dying in service to man. Even in the images of the most adorable lambs she resists idealizing, showing them tied together or heading toward a larger herd, and ultimately toward death. In the most gruesome images of skinned animals and bloodied instruments, the photographs tend toward a religious interpretation whereby sacrificial animals serve as a vehicle for human redemption. Thus, without moralizing, Sanguinetti skillfully portrays the lives and deaths of domesticated animals as both a practical and ritual part of human existence. DENISE WOLFF