Auribus Teneo Lupum

41” x 15” x 16”, 43” x 17” x 19”

Stoneware, acrylic paint

STATEMENT

With a conceptual approach, I make ceramic sculptures that generate diverse meanings. Associations and meanings collide. Much of my work is responding to the surrounding environment and uses everyday experiences as a starting point. This particular installation is a direct response to the mass production of the meat industry and factory farming, which inherently results in the ruthless exploitation of farm animals and our precious environment. Ironically, these sculptures are framed instances that would go unnoticed in their original context. Similar to a slaughterhouse, this installation radiates a cold and latent violence. It challenges the binaries we continually reconstruct between Self and Other, between our own ‘cannibal’ and ‘civilized’ selves. The Latin title Auribus Teneo Lupum translates as “holding a wolf by the ears” which is used to describe an unsustainable situation in which doing nothing and something are risky. The current state of meat production is not a sustainable one, and though doing something about it may cause temporary upheaval, doing nothing about it will result in perpetuating the irreparable damage to our environment.

SOLUTION

This piece is a direct response to the environmental problems caused by the factory farming industry. Pigs, for the duration of their short lives, are confined to small metal crates and concrete floors with slates for their waste runoff. This runoff is then collected into waste lagoons which contaminates the groundwater and depletes our natural resources. According to the EPA, the agricultural sector is “the leading contributor to identified water quality impairments in the nation’s rivers and streams, lakes, ponds, and reservoirs. Additionally, factory farming accounts for 37% of methane (CH₄) emissions, which has more than 20 times the global warming potential of CO₂.” The solution to this is simple: not only is factory farming inhumane and cruel, but cutting back on our meat intake can significantly contribute to the fight against climate change.