Artist Goes Naked for (and With) Pigs
The first thing you notice when looking at artist Miru Kim‘s portraits of her own bare flesh as it touches pigs’ skin is how similar they look. The curving lines, the freckles, and the dusting of hair could easily be human or porcine. The New York City–based artist visited factory hog farms and snapped photos of herself alongside the pigs for her exhibit, “The Pig That Therefore I Am.”
About her experience on the farms, Kim told The New York Times Style Magazine:
This was the single most frightening experience I’ve ever had. The clanking of metal grates, the screams and grunts, the smell, the filth, the dreary eyes of pregnant sows confined in gestation crates ….
Once you learn about pigs, it’s easy to see how similar we really are, and not just on the outside. Pigs, like humans, love listening to music, getting massages, and even playing video games. They have a complex social structure and language, and mother pigs sing to their babies while nursing.
We would never shoot a 6-month-old baby and immerse him or her into a scalding tank, so why would we do it to a baby pig? You don’t have to. Take PETA’s “Pledge to Be Vegan for 30 Days” and protect the pigs “that therefore they are.”
Written by Michelle Sherrow
