For a long time, animals were not considered a ‘serious’ subject in art. With rare exceptions – like British horse painting, for example – you usually see animals as accessories, never as subjects. There has always been a lot of prejudice, just as there still is in many other areas of the art world. You start seeing exhibitions about the environment, ecology, and climate change – but even then, when animals appear in art history or contemporary art, it’s mostly about how artists see them.