Linnéa Ryshke

But We Are Not We Are Not We Are Not Animals

48” X 34” // Oil on canvas

In writing and research, I have explored how denying our animal selves as humans leads to the conception of the self as independent and autonomous, rather than inherently interconnected and vulnerable to the conditions of the world outside ourselves. In this painting, I blur the boundaries between the human and the animal, and between the external and internal environment. The pigs, each of whom have injuries common in industrial confinement, overlap with the human body, and become the human’s diseased internal organs. This is a visual reference to the compromised health of industrially raised animals as well as the negative human health impact of consuming their bodies. The landscape is composed of two factory farm sheds in the background and a large lagoon in the foreground where the animal waste is flushed into and pollutes nearby bodies of water, an industrial practice that contributes to fish deaths. 

Cannibalism

54" X 48" // Oil on canvas
 
With subtle visual cues, this painting depicts a largely unknown practice of modern factory farming: the "enrichment" of animal feed with byproducts of the slaughter of other animals. This means cow feed will often have traces of poultry, pig, and cow body parts. The chicken feathers and flesh-colored marks in the cows' feed are reference to this practice.

Fugitives

11” X 16” // 3 color stone lithograph with oil paint glazing

This print edition depicts two runaways. On the left side, a cow leaps over a barbed wire fence, away from the industrial sheds and toxic-colored, hazy background; on the right side, a slave runs past an empty field, leaving behind a neck collar, which was used on slaves who had previously tried to escape. In focusing on the cow as the subject, an animal often seen as an object of consumption rather than a subject of life, I intent to contextualize the cow’s experience by linking it to an act of resistance by a human, in this case an enslaved African American. The pure, unabated need for autonomy and freedom displayed by these individuals offer a counter-narrative to one of passive victimization that shapes the cultural imagination of oppressed humans and animals.

Every 0.004 seconds

15" X 13"// Oil on canvas

According to United Poultry Concerns, 50 billion chickens, more than 6 times the total human population, are slaughtered worldwide each year, meaning that one chicken is killed every 0.004 seconds. This painting honors one of these individuals. 

Baby

6.5” X 16” // Stone lithograph print

Here I envision what a human would look like as a factory farmed broiler* chicken. These chickens are mostly female, are killed in adolescence at around 42 days old (their normal life span is 10-15 years), genetically altered to have large breasts and thighs, and grow so quickly they often collapse because the skeletal structure of their body cannot support its own weight. I imagine this distortion on a human because the familiarity we have with the human body can make the perversive deformity more palpable.

*Term used in the industry for chickens raised for meat, as opposed to "layers", hens raised for egg production.