Abstract
Visual culture has normalized systemic and institutional cruelty toward animals in North America through an iconography of oppression. Certain kinds of images that sanitize and celebrate the consumption of animal bodies through our contemporary food systems are constantly repeated through marketing channels. In doing so, they help us to avoid addressing the very ethical questions at the heart of these practices. In contrast to this, a number of contemporary artists have relied on visual culture to disrupt this pattern of representation and to challenge the status quo. The following discussion explores some recent attempts to reimagine human–animal relationships in nonspeciesist terms through imagery and artistic practice.
visual culture, art, photography, speciesism, advertising, advertisements, marketing, activism, advocacy, animals, social justice
The text of this article is only available as a PDF.
Copyright 2018 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
2018
You do not currently have access to this content.