“The spectacle caused by this group walking down busy market streets was overwhelming. I tried photographing this but failed, perhaps because I wasn’t interested in their performances. I realised that what I found fascinating was the hybridisation of the urban and the wild, and the paradoxical relationship that the handlers have with their animals - sometimes doting and affectionate, sometimes brutal and cruel.”

A photo series by Pieter Hugo, who spent eight days with a group of performers who travel around Nigeria with their hyenas, monkeys, and snakes. Interestingly enough, the content of this series traveled into mainstream American culture through Beyonce’s “Who Run The World (Girls)” music video. The politics behind Beyonce’s video and the “sampling” of third world culture by American media is extensively and thought-provokingly explored in this Racialicious article.