CHOOK
1 - 31 May 2024
Gallery One, Southport
In my latest collection entitled "CHOOK," I aim to challenge conventional perceptions of the humble chicken, transcending its role as merely an egg producer or culinary ingredient. Chickens can form deep emotional connections as therapy birds, companions and beloved pets.
The inspiration for this collection came from a young girl and dear friend Isla, whose cherished pet chicken Maple was devastatingly taken by a neighbours dog. The bond between the two and the deep emotional response from the loss, spurred on my journey to portray the chicken as more than a utilitarian creature, but rather as a sentient being capable of profound emotional connection.
To create these paintings, I collaborated with friends and local regenerative farmers/chicken breeders at Cabarita Beach Farm. Seeing the connections between human and chicken and the wide-ranging personalities of the chickens themselves as I worked with them one-by-one, gave me a great insight into these sweet-natured but vulnerable beings. Additionally, delving into modern scientific studies exploring the cognitive abilities of chickens revealed compelling findings. Documented research highlights behaviours akin to those seen in higher-order mammals, including problem-solving, deception, and empathy.
Photos from “chook” opening night, curtesy of Corinne Lewis.
For example, research published in 2011 by Joanne Edgar of the University of Bristol, England revealed chickens are capable of empathy. In Edgar's experiment, mother hens watched as their chicks received a harmless puff of air that ruffled their plumage. The chicks perceived the puff as a threat and exhibited signs of stress, including increased heart rate and lowered eye temperature. Interestingly, their mothers who were watching on, also showed the same signs of stress even though they themselves weren’t affected and they knew the air wasn’t a real danger. Edgar’s findings indicate that chickens a key attribute of “empathy; the ability to be affected by, and share, the emotional state of another” (source).
These studies should supersede any preconceived notions that chickens are “dumb and unemotional” and cause us to reconsider the conditions chickens endure as a result of production systems designed to make chicken meat and egg production as cheap as possible.
Through my artworks, I hope to open a dialogue that promotes a deeper appreciation for the intelligence, emotional depth, and inherent worth of chickens. While I don’t judge or criticise the role of the chicken as a food source, I do aim to provoke introspection on our treatment of these sentient beings within both the poultry industry and in a backyard egg laying scenario.
Anne
