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Put out to grass: when animals are allowed to grow old
Isa Leshkos portraits of ageing animals are a tribute to creatures too often dismissed as mere livestock and a poignant reminder of our own mortality
When I began this project, my galleries werent sure people would want to buy the prints, because the pictures were too sad, says the American photographer Isa Leshko. So I put a film about the work online. Immediately I was flooded by emails with stories about ageing parents or pets, and when I showed the pictures at some exhibitions, visitors would come up to me in tears. I wasnt prepared for that at all, she says, but I think its difficult to talk about the people and animals that we love growing old and dying, and the portraits give people a licence to express grief for someone.
Leshkos photographs, collected in her book Allowed To Grow Old: Portraits of Elderly Animals from Farm Sanctuaries, are of old and often rather weather-beaten farm animals. You need a bit of a nudge before you see whats unusual about them ie they are old, whereas most farm animals are dispatched to the abattoir in their youth (and in many cases in their infancy).
The subjects have mostly been rescued from slaughterhouses or farms after the authorities have intervened in cases of cruelty, and taken to live on one of the animal sanctuaries scattered across the US. A few, like the 28-year-old Appaloosa horse Buddy, have been donated when owners became unable to care for them in Buddys case, painful iritis meant he had to have his eyes removed, and he needed expert care to help him get used to his blindness.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/feb/10/isa-leshko-farm-animals-photographs-allowed-to-grow-old?CMP=twt_gu
When I began this project, my galleries werent sure people would want to buy the prints, because the pictures were too sad, says the American photographer Isa Leshko. So I put a film about the work online. Immediately I was flooded by emails with stories about ageing parents or pets, and when I showed the pictures at some exhibitions, visitors would come up to me in tears. I wasnt prepared for that at all, she says, but I think its difficult to talk about the people and animals that we love growing old and dying, and the portraits give people a licence to express grief for someone.
Leshkos photographs, collected in her book Allowed To Grow Old: Portraits of Elderly Animals from Farm Sanctuaries, are of old and often rather weather-beaten farm animals. You need a bit of a nudge before you see whats unusual about them ie they are old, whereas most farm animals are dispatched to the abattoir in their youth (and in many cases in their infancy).
The subjects have mostly been rescued from slaughterhouses or farms after the authorities have intervened in cases of cruelty, and taken to live on one of the animal sanctuaries scattered across the US. A few, like the 28-year-old Appaloosa horse Buddy, have been donated when owners became unable to care for them in Buddys case, painful iritis meant he had to have his eyes removed, and he needed expert care to help him get used to his blindness.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/feb/10/isa-leshko-farm-animals-photographs-allowed-to-grow-old?CMP=twt_gu
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Put out to grass: when animals are allowed to grow old (Original Post)
demmiblue
Feb 2019
OP
I went to the Guardia n link and there are some really good photos.to click to.
Karadeniz
Feb 2019
#1
Karadeniz
(22,513 posts)1. I went to the Guardia n link and there are some really good photos.to click to.
StarryNite
(9,444 posts)2. Bittersweet
Those animals were the lucky ones who were able to live out their lives instead of ending up being slaughtered. Still, seeing them age is sad, maybe because it is a mirror for us as we too grow old. Thank you for sharing.
Bayard
(22,063 posts)3. We have a number of elderly on our little farm....
My gray mare is pushing 35. I've had her half my life. A goose that has to be at least 15, his little harem of ducks are pretty ancient too.
Most of our guys that don't die of some type of illness, like cancer, are finally felled by old age. I hope to do the same.
demmiblue
(36,845 posts)5. Thank you for the pic Bayard!
It seems you have a fine lot of well loved critters.
hermetic
(8,308 posts)6. They are so lovely
Thank you.
keithbvadu2
(36,788 posts)4. Some are stil productive... Mom at 68
Oldest known wild bird (Laysan albatross) has a new chick. Mom is 68!
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10181179622
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