My work is an attempt to draw attention to the exploitative nature of our relationship to nonhuman animals and our deep-seated denial regarding this truth. In order to benefit and profit from their use, we have reduced living, sentient beings to pieces of machinery and commodities to be bought, sold, enslaved, killed, and consumed to satisfy our often trivial desires. And yet, while we treat animals like slaves and machines, we hold on to romanticized and idealized notions of our "love" and "stewardship" of these same beings. In other words, we intentionally deceive ourselves in order to make our abusive behavors more "palatabe." My intent is to disturb these idealized notions with hints of the true explioitative and mechanized nature of our relationship to nonhuman animals.

Additionaly, I am interested in exploring the links between the way in which we treat animals and the historic subjugation of women, people of other races, and the connections to war. There is, in all these relationships, a shared undercurrent of violence, dominance and enslavement.

How can we expect to end wars, racism and violence against women when the most basic component of our days - our meals - are born of suffering and oppression?

Our dietary choices are typically based on habit and tradition. Fortunately, our bodies do not require cow's milk, hen's eggs, fish, or the flesh of other animals to maintain good health. All the nutrients we require can be found in a plant-based diet.

Animal-based foods are products of industrialized animal abuse, and the best way to end this abuse is to simply refuse to finance it. As consumers, we have the opportunity to create change and put an end to the cycle of violence with each and every meal.