Meat and Flesh

"Hanging, limp, lifeless" , "Market Price", "Inside and Out" , "N.04", "Inferno"

Meat

noun

1. The flesh of an animal (especially a mammal) as food.

"pieces of meat"

Flesh

noun

The soft substance consisting of muscle and fat that is found between the skin and bones of an animal or a human.

Why does the industry feel the need to mask or disguise foods from their original form?

Why do we feel disgusted or squeamish when met with raw meat or whole fishes…etc. Why do we consider some animals as food and others as "man's best friend"?

When stripped down to the core, of flesh and bones, we cannot differentiate the difference between animal species, let alone animals and humans.

In this series, I aim to explore the ways in which meat and flesh are regarded differently, although ultimately are the same thing. How society is conditioned through social norms to view things as food or things that deserve to live. Why should we be able to choose what is what?

The red string is a main motif in these paintings, as it symoolizes the "endless knot" in Buddhism. It is the belief that the universe is in balance, birth, death and rebirth as well as the dependance each element has on each other. The red strings symbolise both the blood and veins of living things as well as the cycle of life. Being cut off and dangling out of the page draws parallel to the brutality of life being cut short.

"Hanging, Limp, Lifeless."

This piece is based on the hanging meats commonly seen in the wet markets and how culturally is so different than the way meat is sold in western communities. Meat here is displayed all on the table, under red light and on hooks.

Meat is sold so sterilised here. Under the plastic wrap, placed inside the glass aisles within grocery stores all lined up, hugged in pretty packaging...

It is a guise for hiding what we are really consuming, another once living being.

I aimed to create a piece that looks unfamiliar at first glance, as most people are not exposed to this violent way of buying meat. It is almost abstracted because of the different way it is presented, on a sharp hook instead of under the safeness of plastic wrap.

The installation of the dead flowers under the piece is up to the viewers interpretation.

Dimensions:

Acrylic and Embroidery thread on canvas

11 x14"

2022

"Inside and Out"

What is the difference from meat and flesh to you? We are all made from bones, muscle, skin and fat. We have blood flowing through our veins. What makes something food and the other flesh? Is it not just life?

Dimensions:

Acrylic, Embroidery thread, Hot Glue, Cloth Rags, Yarn on Untreated Canvas

2022

"Market Price"

A mountain of dead bodies. When we buy meat in the grocery shop, it is usually already formed into ground meat, cuts of steak, pieces of fish...they don't look like they were once from another living being anymore. They lack the eyes, mouth, guts of the animals they once were, dehumanising them from our brains, making us feel okay for the murder of these lives.

Interestingly, people view this as gruesome and make them feel squeamish. I asked numerous people and they all concluded they wouldn't buy a whole fish or that they would feel uncomfortable when met with circumstances of seeing the animal being slaughtered. In modern day life, we don't come across the need to hunt or butcher our own meat, with this crucial step removed from our personal process, we divert our responsibility onto the seller or the butcher instead of our own.

May I ask:

Would you really feel comfortable preparing a meal straight from a non pre cut animal, and if your answer is no, then why should you feel differently when making a dish from a pre-cut and sterilised piece of meat?

Why do we feel guilty when met with the dead body of the animal but not from the "meat" we consume and see daily?

Dimensions:

Acrylic and Embroidery Thread on Canvas

30x40"

2022