May 12, 2008

When I first became a vegan I immersed myself in all things vegan and read books, searched the internet and listened to as many podcasts about veganism, animal rights and cooking as I could find. A reoccurring theme that immersed was that as a vegan it is important to go a step more and use talents and skills to promote veganism in the world which is largely a non-vegan one. Some suggestions were to do pass out literature in public, write letters to various sources,and/ or write a book. I considered these options careful but knew my limitations and skills and decided to incorporate a message of veganism whenever I could in my artwork. One such piece, "A Silver Titter Stole My Baby" is about the dairy industry and how mother cows never get to have any relationship with their offspring. When I was a vegetarian and not a vegan I never considered this fact. It was only after hearing what other vegans had uncovered that the truth became clear to me. When one supports the dairy industry as I did as a vegetarian who ate dairy you support the veal industry as well as all non female offspring are sent to veal sheds to live their brief lives in a dark small closet. All babies, male and female are taken almost immediately from the mother so the mother can be a milk producer for the human animals not her calves. As a mother myself I thought of the angst that a mother would feel to have all her children taken away from her, never to realize the bond that mother and children have, only the stresses of having her offspring taken away. No matter how simple cows are I knew that from all accounts cows have real emotions when this happens by the verbal reactions both mom and child had when separated.