Local Artist’s ‘Death Rattles’ Now Up in New York City Gallery

Tijeras Resident Karen Turner’s PETA-Curated Exhibition Evokes Recognition of the Value of Animal Life

For Immediate Release:
August 7, 2019

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Local artist and founder of the beloved but now-closed Oz School in Santa Fe, Karen Turner, has created “Death Rattles,” a collection of 100 animal-themed pieces inspired by the transformative nature of the rattle in indigenous cultures, and they’re on exhibit now through August 15 at the prestigious Ivy Brown Gallery in New York City. The exhibit, curated by PETA, reinforces the notion that all beings, regardless of species, have the right to live free from exploitation.

“My admiration for New Mexican culture and exposure to the animals in the land of endless sky affirmed my understanding that animals are a crucial part of every ecosystem on Earth. That has not stopped us from destroying their habitats with clearcutting and poison, filling the oceans with plastic and garbage, and sentencing our fellow beings to enormous suffering in steel traps, the food industry, laboratories, rodeos, circuses, and more,” says Turner. “These death rattles symbolize the importance of letting harmful practices die out so we can allow the remaining life on our planet to recover and thrive.”

Turner has a long history of animal protection advocacy, including organizing children’s art exhibitions to benefit the rehabilitation of chimpanzees once held at the White Sands Research Center and lending support to a proposed—and ultimately successful—statewide ban on cockfighting.

Proceeds from the exhibition will benefit PETA, whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way,” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.

For more details about the exhibit, please visit IvyBrownGallery.org. For information about PETA’s work for animals, visit PETA.org.