David Slater
Monkey Selfie

Public Domain

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Images(2)

Artist David SlaterBritish, born 1965

Printer Que Imaging

CultureBritish

Titles

Monkey Selfie

Date2011, printed 2018

MediumInkjet print

DimensionsImage: 24 × 20 in. (61 × 50.8 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by James Edward Maloney, Joan Morgenstern, and Clinton T. Willour in honor of the monkey

Object number2018.45

Not on view

Explore Further

Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionWhen
David Slater visited the Tangkoko Reserve on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi,
he positioned his camera on a tripod amid a troop of crested macaques and
waited for them to get curious and release the shutter. After a few hours,
Slater’s camera captured this grinning monkey. The image became an Internet
favorite, but People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sued the
photographer, arguing that rights to the photograph belonged to the monkey,
Naruto. Ultimately a federal judge ruled that copyright law does not extend to animals.
This photograph of a charismatic creature is engaging, but it also speaks to
the rise of online image sharing and its consequences.
ProvenanceThe artist; purchased by MFAH, 2018.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

[no inscriptions recto or verso]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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