The artworks that follow are the culmination of dual - and oftentimes - dueling passions: making images on the one hand, and a preoccupation with the harsh and brutal lives of animals within culture on the other.
My subjects live in zoos, aquariums, feedlots, factory and family farms, and laboratories. They "perform" in circuses, rodeos, racetracks, bull rings, canned hunts, and the carriage trade. They are casualties in rituals and festivals.
The starting point for each artwork is a photograph. In each case, the subject dictates the final form of the work. The final images utilize a range of styles, visual references, and devices. They do not aspire to any one single meaning.
It is my hope that by giving visual form to one of the most important ethical issues of our time, these works might play a small role in reimaging our relationship with non-human animals, and in so doing, push thinking in new directions.
Karen Harris
My subjects live in zoos, aquariums, feedlots, factory and family farms, and laboratories. They "perform" in circuses, rodeos, racetracks, bull rings, canned hunts, and the carriage trade. They are casualties in rituals and festivals.
The starting point for each artwork is a photograph. In each case, the subject dictates the final form of the work. The final images utilize a range of styles, visual references, and devices. They do not aspire to any one single meaning.
It is my hope that by giving visual form to one of the most important ethical issues of our time, these works might play a small role in reimaging our relationship with non-human animals, and in so doing, push thinking in new directions.
Karen Harris