About
This body of work spans digital media, sculpture, ‘brandalism’ techniques, user experience design, and installation as a means of challenging social norms and critiquing our specieist culture. I have been making artwork with a focus on animal liberation since returning to my studies in 2018.
‘Bone of Contention’ (2023)
Dual-screen digital video installation
4 minutes 20 seconds
Using found sound to story tell in a new way, this dual-screen film depicts a debate between a sheep (vegan) and sheepdog (non-vegan). Influenced by the anti-vegan narrative which dominates UK media and ‘puppeteers’ public perception, casting ethical veganism in an often unfavourable light, I highlight the hypocritical human relationship towards certain animals.
Whack-a-Pig (2023)
Handmade interactive arcade machine with digital video (with Ali Napier)
This piece is the heart of the exhibited works, created in response to a recent undercover investigation at a ‘high welfare’ Scottish pig farm in Aberdeenshire. Though it may look innocent and fun at first glance, the game (like the investigation), allows us to see inside, revealing a more sinister reality.
Bone of Contention
Using found sound* to story-tell in a new way, this dual-screen film depicts a debate between a sheep (vegan) and sheepdog (non-vegan). Influenced by the anti-vegan narrative which dominates UK media and ‘puppeteers’ public perception, casting ethical veganism in an often unfavourable light. I selected examples of found audio which, to me, epitomise the nonsensical arguments vegans are faced with. The film highlights the hypocritical human relationship towards certain animals.
Whack-A-Pig
Based on the popular arcade game ‘whack-a-mole’, this piece is the heart of the exhibited works. Created in response to a recent undercover investigation at a ‘high welfare’ Scottish pig farm in Aberdeenshire, which found workers to be abusing the animals in various ways. Though it may look innocent and fun at first glance, the arcade machine (like the investigation), allows us to see inside, revealing a more sinister reality. Using sound samples from the kid’s TV show Peppa Pig, I consider how we are turned into automatic animal eaters from a young age; taught to love, eat, repeat. The game acts as a metaphor, questioning our role as consumers who contribute to hidden cruelty each time we buy animal ‘products’. Do we continue playing or do we ‘level up’ and make better choices? Each foam pig in this installation represents 2 million farmed pigs, totalling the 10 million which are killed for consumption in the UK every year.