Paw

A photographer, filmmaker, and writer, Moyra Davey eschews grandiosity of scale or subject in order to train her eye on modest views of domestic life. To her, the quiet, overlooked corners of home hold great meaning, as spaces where neglected objects go through almost imperceptible cycles of change. Dust exerts a particular fascination on Davey—dead matter that circulates as a quotidian nuisance and can never be fully eradicated. Here, Davey used a narrow depth of field to render only a sliver of a dog’s paw in sharp focus, drawing even closer attention to the tangle of dust and human hair trapped underneath the dog’s claws. Dust has accumulated slowly, undetected, and in this moment is suddenly transported into view by the movement of everyday life.