HOW DID WE GET HERE AND WHERE ARE WE GOING?

HOW DID WE GET HERE AND WHERE ARE WE GOING? is a thesis exhibition that consists of two series of lithographic prints, All I’ve Seen, and Encounters on a Hog Farm and a self- portrait titled It Weighs on You Like Heavy Rain. They depict my experience working on an industrial hog confinement for four summers in Iowa. I navigate this industry in my work through my memories, through the things I saw and experienced and I focus on the things that impacted me. This collection of work depicts the workings of industrial hog farming and the complications of operating a large-scale farm. Much of this is not seen by many. Through my work, I shine a light on the realities of an industry that are usually invisible.

Five O’clock in the Morning, Lithograph, 9”x13”, 2022

Farrowing Stalls, Lithograph, 9”x13”, 2022

From One Place to Another, Lithograph, 9”x13”, 2021

Hog Confinement, Lithograph, 9”x13”, 2021

Black Pond, Lithograph, 9”x13”, 2022

Compost Pile, Lithograph, 9”x13”, 2022

My Mower, Lithograph, 9”x13”, 2020

Gestation Stalls, Lithograph, 9”x13”, 2021

Dow the Row, Lithograph, 9”x13”, 2022

Slatted Floors, Lithograph, 9”x13”, 2022

It Weighs on You like Heavy Rain, Lithograph, 22”x27,” 2022

All I’ve Seen

Lithographic Series

Encounters on a Hog Farm

Encounters on a Hog Farm is a collection of six lithographs that depict memories of the animals I have encountered while mowing around hog confinements. In this print collection, there are a total of seven black and white lithographic prints. These prints are housed in a handmade portfolio. The order is as follows: The Fucker Bit Me!, A Friend Came to Say Hello, Uncover, A Mother’s Display of Protection, Swarm, and Rats!

Each of these animals tells their own story about their interaction with me and how they live around hog confinements. I remember each of these encounters and how they made me examine how industrial farming has changed the landscape. It has shaped the land to be used as efficiently as possible for agriculture. Much of the land in Iowa is used to produce corn and soybeans. The prairies that once grew so abundant in Iowa now only make up 1% of the land. I think about how the animals will come in more contact with humans due to their loss of habitats even in these rural landscapes.