Today is the last day of The Sexual Politics of Meat Exhibition at The Animal Museum, LA. The exhibition followed on from the book The Art of the Animal, eds Kathryn Eddy, LA Watson and Janell O’Rourke, Lantern Press, 2015. It has been, and continues to be an amazing project to be involved with.
I have been accepted into the inaugural Animals & Society Institute Summer Program, hosted by the University of Illinois for the project speaking meat – following on from the work I produced with Bruce Mowson for ‘Why Listen to Animals?’ for Liquid Architecture, presented at Westspace in 2016.
speaking meat: the possibilities and issues of strategic anthropomorphism in creative practice
The project/problem I will be addressing in this institute is what are the possibilities and issues related to using ‘strategic anthropomorphism’ in creative practices? Does strategic anthropomorphism simply flatten out the alterity that ethical empathic engagements with non-human animals should illicit. This project aims to explore, investigate and play with the possibilities of strategic anthropomorphism in giving voice to animal bodies, and in particular the meaty remains of animal bodies. Anthropomorphism is viewed critically within the visual arts and often, if not always, elided with anthropocentrism, but has recently found support in a range of other disciplines from the animal sciences to literary studies.
Selvedge at Space@Collins has finished and it’s great to now have time to get back into the studio and make some new work – lots of ideas!
Fangirl moment: these two pictures are truly amazing and continue to delight me – on the left Professor Lori Gruen author of Entangled Empathy, sits beneath and also discusses boobscape for a video on Animaladies, Sydney, 2016. On the Right: Carol Adams (author of The Sexual Politics of Meat) and myself standing under a second much larger iteration of boobscape, installed as part of SPOM: Sexual Politics of Meat Exhibition, The Animal Museum 2017. Of course Gruen and Adams together also edited the incredible ‘Ecofeminism’, and have written many other influential and important texts. I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to meet these women – I have to pinch myself!
I’ve just returned from 9 days in LA installing my work in The Sexual Politics of Meat exhibition at The Animal Museum, Arts District, DTLA. This exhibition follows on from the book The Art of the Animal, Lantern Press, 2015. The event opened on Saturday 25th, and the museum hosted a colloquium on Sunday 26th featuring a talk by Carol Adams (author of The Sexual Politics of Meat) and followed by a panel discussion led by Stephen Eisenmann with the artists present. The exhibition continues until mid-April.
The exhibition opening was covered by Jane Velez-Mitchell (Jane Unchained) and I have an interview in this portion: https://www.facebook.com/JaneVelezMitchell/videos/10158268492465693/ and a preview in the Huffington Post by Ellen Kanner http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/meatless-monday-the-art-of-the-animal-the-sexual_us_58a38d3ce4b0e172783aa1e
Here’s some installation shots of my work – I showed a new iteration of boobscape, 2016-17 and slink, 2014.
My trip to LA was made possible by an Australian Artist’s Grant:
The Australian Artists’ Grant is a NAVA initiative, made possible through the generous sponsorship of Mrs Janet Holmes à Court and the support of the Visual Arts Board, Australia Council for the Arts.
