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A Survey of Critical Animal Theory as a Foundation for Art Production
The core question that I investigate is how can we, as artists, encourage and promote respect and care for the animals with which we share our world. How can we show through our artwork that we should value the lives of those who cannot speak for themselves? Industrialization and modernization have brought about a large degree of disassociation with our natural environment that sustains us. In particular I am interested in artistic inquiry focused on human relationship to mass production and consumption of animals. Our increasing pressures to produce animal food products cheaply for growing human populations has brought about a callous disregard of epic proportions for animal well being. Animal welfare affected by human food production is an ethical question.
Industrial production of livestock, including cattle, poultry and fish is a modern technique commonly referred to as factory farming. Most of the meat, dairy and eggs are produced by industrial agriculture. According to the Worldwatch Institute, two thirds of arable land is used in the raising of meat, causing it to be ruined for further agricultural use.
We as a nation perpetuate a complete disregard for animal welfare in other areas as well. For instance the use of animals in institutional research is financed and regulated through government funding and laws but overseen by their own internal governing body. There are few ways available to prevent abuse, pain and unnecessary repetition of experiments.
Many philosophers have examined our relationship with animals. In the 17th century Rene Descartes theorized that animals are without feeling because they had no souls and could not talk and therefore could not reason. He declared that they were machines. This theory continued into the 20th century with animals being abused because it was thought they could feel no pain. Jeremy Bentham (19th century) proposed equal consideration for all beings, including animals, stating that the most basic right should be the right to a life. Charles Darwin (19th century) through his studies in evolution recognized that all sentient beings share a nervous system and the need to feel pain as a warning to escape danger and, in physiology, we humans are not that different. Modern day philosophers such as Peter Singer and Tom Regan, argued that the right to have basic needs met are a part of morality.
Government and industry undermined familiar and established animal care practices as populations after the Second World War became larger and more urban. Family farms became factory farms, crowding animals in unhealthy, inhumane conditions hidden from the sight of most people and our lives became separated from contact except as pets and in zoos. John Sorenson of Brock University stated in his book Animal Rights (2010), that we are being affected by moral schizophrenia, confused and incoherent ideas about animals and this has resulted in hostility towards animal rights movements “shaped by massive propaganda efforts and advertising from multi-billion dollar industries. Philosopher Michel Foucault has stated it best in his interview (Concern for Truth”) that today we must “shake up habitual ways of working and thinking, to dissipate conventional familiarities, to re-evaluate rules and institutions and starting from this re-problemization, to participate in the formation of a political will.”
Cary Wolfe, in”Ethics, Activism and the Rise of Interdisciplinary Animal Studies” states that we must ceaselessly examine the borders that separate us from other animals. Culturally encoded forms of speciesism (discrimination on the basis of being from a different species) should invite the same critical attention as sexism and racism. How we regard animals is as important as how we regard humans. Equality is a moral ideal and a difference in ability does not justify a difference in the amount of consideration given to any species to satisfy their needs and interests. Otherwise stated, an animal has equal consideration of rights – which is a belief that it is always wrong to cause another pain, or death.
How does art activism counteract these beliefs and search to inform a public accustomed to disregarding animal welfare that is not in their immediate sphere of contact? Today in Canada art activism may be expressed through community outreach, within institutions such as schools and through visual arts and theatre. A growing study of Critical Theory and Posthumanism within universities looks at the theoretical and the philosophical foundation of Animal Studies.
Galleries often display pieces with animals and animal parts that can be disturbing. Artists such as Damian Hurst, Sue Coe, Carol Schneeman and Huang Yong Ping have had exhibitions that aroused criticism from the public. Animal activism campaigns that have taken to the streets are often seen as subversive, even criminal. Activist art attempts to alter the status quo and introduce a new social relationship with animals. But how far can an artist stretch the boundaries between what is acceptable and what is not? It says something about our respect for animals and our regard for their telos. Using animals as materials for art production stretches the boundaries of good taste and ethics but may even be seen to violate laws against deliberate cruelty.
The artwork I produce illustrates our relationship with animals and how we need to rethink it. I try to juxtapose the idyllic views we often hold about animals with the reality of their lives to make a visual impact. In each work I try to imagine how best to make a point, whether through size, color, medium or imagery. I am exploring other media as well. Through Photoshop manipulation I combine imagery and words to make large format posters. What I desire is impact.
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