feeding time
This work pursues two different threads of investigation: animal rights and feminism and how these are connected. The pieces portray humorous, but disturbing scenes of a woman eating people dressed as animals, who run, scream, or sit resigned, locked in cages. She is the perfect middle-class, white woman and things have gone haywire. The work constructs a satirical situation with an eye toward educating viewers about the actual conditions that provide for their seemingly benign consumption of food. The pieces open up the layers of power in gender roles and how they manifest in various ways.
The patriarchal culture often still treats women much like it treats animals on factory farms-- chickens, pigs, and cows--as units, not individuals. Just as women are often defined solely by their relationship to men, many animals are defined solely by how they can serve humans, be it as food, entertainment, or as fashion. Using people dressed as animals mixes the horrific with the humorous: the horrific speaks to the conditions of industrial farming whereas - the humorous elements engage viewers and encourage them to identify with these figures and recognize the implications of fusing women’s and animals’ already inferior status.
These pieces consist of watercolor/acrylic mono-types with photographic elements collaged into the picture plane. The surreal environment is designed to underscore both, the insanity of the horrific conditions of industrial farming that we mundanely accept in our regular visits to the grocery store, and the insanity of the images of power we see every day in pop-culture. We absorb them constantly in front of our eyes and we can’t get away from them.
The patriarchal culture often still treats women much like it treats animals on factory farms-- chickens, pigs, and cows--as units, not individuals. Just as women are often defined solely by their relationship to men, many animals are defined solely by how they can serve humans, be it as food, entertainment, or as fashion. Using people dressed as animals mixes the horrific with the humorous: the horrific speaks to the conditions of industrial farming whereas - the humorous elements engage viewers and encourage them to identify with these figures and recognize the implications of fusing women’s and animals’ already inferior status.
These pieces consist of watercolor/acrylic mono-types with photographic elements collaged into the picture plane. The surreal environment is designed to underscore both, the insanity of the horrific conditions of industrial farming that we mundanely accept in our regular visits to the grocery store, and the insanity of the images of power we see every day in pop-culture. We absorb them constantly in front of our eyes and we can’t get away from them.
