Newsworthy
Horse Slaughter in the U.S.
“The only way to stop excessive breeding is to take away the financial incentive that slaughter provides and then to back rigid enforcement of existing cruelty laws. We cannot wish our way out of abuse and neglect any more than we can slaughter our way out of it” (John Holland).
The article I chose for the Newsworthy project was titled, "House Committee Okays Horse Slaughter in the U.S." It talked about the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee failed to protect the nation's horses and, instead, voted to reopen horse slaughter plants in the United States.
To begin, I utilized ideation. I searched the internet to find images that would help narrate the process of horse slaughter. Therefore, I looked for pictures that depicted the auction, transportation, and confinement of horses going to the slaughterhouse.
After collecting images, I used iteration to create five different compositions that all reflect the deplorable events of horse slaughter. From the five, I chose the bottom two compositions to continue on to stage two because they create a greater emotional pull than the others. They also are more appealing because of their ability to produce deep space. In the first, the road leads one's eye to the back of the composition, while the mountain creates space in the second.
For the next stage, I experimented with two different materials. For the first, I used Prismacolor markers to create the scene. For the second, I used an ink pen.
Atmospheric perspective, diagonals, and overlap were used to create the illusion of three dimensional space on a two dimensional surface.
Here, I focused on creating a great contrast between the road and the surroundings of the horseshoe. I used this contrast to bring the viewer's eye to the horses in distress in the center.
In this piece, I focused on figure ground. I overlapped the horses with the mountain in the background. One can also tell that the auctioneers are closest to the viewer. I did this so one could place himself or herself in their shoes as if they are at the scene. This adds to the emotional intensity.
When drawing this piece, I decided to loosen up. I wanted my lines to express the emotional distress the horses were feeling. Therefore, instead of keeping tight cross hatching marks throughout the piece, I experimented with circular marks on the edges.
I decided to use ink cross hatching for the final because of its ability to create a sense of chaos. This chaos parallels the unorganized, inhumane process of horse slaughter and further narrates the tragic story.
Newsworthy Phase 1,2,3
Prof. Tracy Featherstone
Charcoal Pencil, Pen, Prismacolor Marker
As a person who has grown up around horses my entire life, I have come to deeply appreciate and care for these gentle giants. Horse slaughter is an ongoing issue which has intensified in the past year with the reopening of horse slaughter plants in the United States. Although this makes the issue worse, more than 100,000 horses were still being transported over boarders to be slaughtered in countries that allow it for human consumption. Until a bill is passed to both restrict horse slaughter in the U.S. and prevent transportation of slaughter horses across boarders, no horse is safe. I hope to bring awareness to this issue through this piece. When more people understand the brutality of the act, there will be a greater amount of people to help prevent it.
