My ultimate wish for 2024 is that the wars will cease and that governments will finally implement aggressive strategies to stop global warming - the effects of which became increasingly evident 2023..and do not bode well for 2024.
I also wish for more compassion and understanding in the world. Ultimately we are all cousins - no matter how distantly connected. We ought to be able to find common ground and empathy. I wish for less screen-staring and more real connection, more conversation, more smiles and a greater sense of community.
As always, I wish that human beings could feel compassion for all animals - not just their domestic pets. By simply removing animal flesh and other animal products from our diets, or at least choosing to eat far less meat and only eat game or organic animal products, we make a statement that we care - about animal suffering, about the environment, about world hunger and about our own health. There is a plethora of information on the web, in books, documentaries and in the news about the detrimental impacts of industrialised animal agriculture and the excessive consumption of animal products. It breaks my heart that with all this knowledge, most people continue to consume animal products on a daily basis.
As for my art, it continues to be informed by my animal rights ethics and, more broadly, by my belief that all innocent beings deserve to live free from repression, entrapment, exploitation and cruelty. I hope that by making visual connections between the repression of animals and the repression of people, that my work emphasises the need to extend our compassion to both.
Wishing you all a more compassionate and connected 2024.
