“Works in Progress” highlights artists across a range of disciplines whose work deals with ecological themes. Considering the particular role that artists play in the climate movement, this column shares their voices and provides a glimpse behind the curtain into their creative processes and experiences.
On April 23rd, in commemoration of the International Day for Animals in Laboratories, Animal Equality's activists in Rome, Madrid, Barcelona and many other cities across Europe carried out demonstrations against animal testing.
Sirens of the Lambs is created by the enigmatic street artist, Banksy. This piece was first spotted on the streets of New York City on October 10, 2013, it went viral on social media and people are posting and reposting about it. Sirens of the Lambs is a truck full of stuffed animals – plush cows, chickens, pigs, lambs, bears – that first appeared in the Meatpacking neighborhood of NYC.
"Brooke Shields is one of 200 famous faces that the artist Jonathan Horowitz identifies as vegetarian in head shots he has hung on the white-tile walls of a former meat locker in the south Village. Horowitz, 44, swore off meat at the age of 12, after his parents took him to a bullfight on a vacation in Mexico.
After winning the TED Prize on March 2, 2011, the French-artist JR launched the Inside Out Project, in his first TED Talk. Using his own artistic practice as inspiration, this participatory platform helps individuals and communities to make a statement by displaying large-scale black and white portraits in public spaces. Through their “Actions,” communities around the world have sparked collaborations and conversations.
By Joanna Zelman
Piglets are haphazardly swung in circles, sows are beaten, and animals squirm with untreated abscesses in new footage alleging animal abuse at a Wyoming pig breeding facility.
February 29, 2012
The Kansas City Star
By Jessica Blakeborough
The chickens have been granted a stay of execution.
City codes prevent Amber Hansen, a Lawrence artist, from displaying and then butchering chickens for an art project, a city official says.
And that has animal activists rejoicing.
What would it be like if we switched positions with whales in captivity?
Nothing like this – but at least prankster Rémi Gaillard had some fun trying to recreate the scenario.
The Convergence graphic novel series is a science fiction dystopia. It tells the story of a dying earth and the dark covenant that the last civilization acceded to for survival. The social contract is disrupted when a prophecy is triggered which can heal the dying earth. Book 1 was released this past June with 7 more episodic books coming monthly in 2016.
"Since the progress of civilization in our country has furnished thousands of convenient places for this Swallow to breed in, safe from storms, snakes, or quadrupeds, it has abandoned, with a judgment worthy of remark, its former abodes in the hollows of trees, and taken possession of the chimneys which emit no smoke in the summer season." John James Audubon, The Chimney Swallow (or American Swift, Chimney Swift, Chaotura Pelasgia), from The O
In July 2015, the Empire State Building's famous light displays were used to draw attention endangered wildlife. Along with Cecil, whose death has sparked international outrage, a snow leopard, tigers, lemurs, and various snakes, birds and sea creatures were projected onto the building.
For artists exploring themes of violence towards humans and animals, there is a fine line between thoughtfully engaging and needlessly shocking the viewer; being sensationally explicit can turn people away while being tacit or innocuous may fail to make an impact.
While this protest draws quick and reactive attention and awareness to the issue at hand; it does fail to make clear the message that they intend to protest. The audience, which seems to be the general public, may focus on the scandal of the protest. The the vulgar display people as a bloody pieve of meat. Yet, these shocking images do draw the viewer to the cruel way animals are handled by the meat industry.
Tina Piña, better known as Mother Pigeon (@motherpigeonbrooklyn), is an artist and self-described “high priestess of the pigeon religion,” whose passion for New York City’s often-overlooked bird has helped her carve out a unique creative niche centered around pigeons—as well as a lifestyle geared towards helping New Yorkers appreciate the misunderstood creatures.
In May 2010, as oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster continued to spread in the Gulf of Mexico, growing outrage from residents in New Orleans at the response by government agents and corporate executives, opened up new horizons of political possibility.
Naked members of the animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) impersonated cellophane-wrapped meat packages in a pro-vegan demonstration demonizing the way the meat industry treats animals in front of a Vancouver slaughterhouse.
"Cruel" is a book written by Sue Coe, an activist illustrator known for her dedication to animal rights. It continues her mission of shedding light on how animals are mistreated in the food industry. The book is filled with striking paintings and drawings that vividly portray both the beauty and suffering of these animals and the workers who handle them.
Anonymous urban artists set up art installations, large nest eggs, at several locations in Skopje, wanting to alarm the growing number of trees in the city.
In the nest read a message "You cut all the trees, where do we make nests? Birds".
Zoo Portraits is a humorous photo series by Barcelona-based photographer Yago Partal that matches animal heads with human bodies. Partal amazingly matches animals to appropriate human bodies and even manages to match their personalities and styles.