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Starr Bowie's letter to Ontario College of Art & Design re. cat skinning
exhibit>From : "Starr Bowie" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
CC : [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date : Mon, 06 Aug 2001 16:33:08I want to protest any defense given to the art center/gallery or to the
so-called artists involved in the recent skinning/torture death of a cat for
public exhibition.I know many "political" artists and am striving, when time from employment
and volunteer work permits, to develop my own art, hopefully in the
furtherance of progressive ideas. No one I know who has heard of this case
sees any justification whatsoever for the unnecessary killing, let alone the
torturous killing, of any animal. It is unlikely that the public would sit
still to watch the video proclaimed to be in support of animal rights, let
alone to be more edified by it than by, e.g., photos of animals being raised
for food and being slaughtered in the course of things rather than at the
instigation of so-called artists. To accompany an article on the cruelties
of the butchering process here in the U.S. the Washington Post Newspaper
recently featured on its front page a three-part photo sequence of a beef
cow's eyes as they reflexed in panic and pain at being inadequately stunned
prior to butchering--that photo, just of the eyes, was haunting and
eloquently made its point. A well-known British artist named Sue Coe has
graphically depicted in her prints and tellingly describes in her talks the
experience of animals in slaughterhouses. No creature is sacrificed purely
to edify the public in these and other visual depictions of cruelty.In light especially of the fact that there are ample illustrations of
alternative ways to make the same point through visual media, I would submit
that the artists who subjected the cat to protracted torture
were far more mindful of their narcissistic ego needs to shock and to draw
attention to themselves than they were to any genuine humanitarian or
aesthetic concerns. Had they given it a moment's consideration they would
have realized that the focus of public attention would be on their own
heinous act, not on the humanitarian issue of slaughter that they purport to
address. This consequence of the torture and its videotape display is so
patently obvious that it makes one believe that exhibitionism was the
primary motivation. What a depraved way to get attention for oneself and
for the gallery that
facilitated such an act of artistic masturbation.Would they and their defenders consider the artist-instigated rape, torture,
and murder of a young woman on video justifiable in order to illustrate to
the public the evils of the snuff film industry? Would
they care to film an elementary school child being raped or molested by
his/her relative to illustrate the evils of incest? Would they like to
videotape child prostitutes being "broken in" in one of many
countries, including the U.S., where such practice is common in order to
show us how terrible that industry is? If we can justify the
artist-initiated cat torture as contributing to public enlightenment, surely
we can justify any other depiction of artist-instigated immoral, inhumane
behavior as worthy of public attention. My suspicion is that the artists
involved in the cat-torture and their
defenders would only forswear engaging in similar actions on human beings
because the law protects human life and does not adequately protect animal
life.Moreover, a moment's prior reflection on the impact of exhibiting the cat
torture might have led a sincere person to realize that such a display
indulges many members of the public who get a power fix
from watching an animal being deliberately tortured for their amusement.
The idea of deliberately inflicting pain on a living creature, no matter
what the vaunted goals of the parties so doing, simply encourages this
segment of the public (some people go to films denoucing rape because they
are titillated by graphic scenes of the rape). Have the artists and their
supporters ever heard of
bullfighting, cockfighting, dogfighting, bear-baiting, elephant-baiting, and
a host of other such pursuits practiced today around the world? The only
difference in what they did is that the cat had no opportunity to release
tensions through fighting even a useless battle. One has to handle one's
material, even when it is fictitious and no living being is actually harmed,
very carefully in order to convey the real horror of some actions without
stimulating and hence reinforcing those who are attracted to the idea of
dominating and causing pain to other beings.I hope that you will do all in your power to facilitate severe punishment of
those who performed the gross and grossly-misrepresented act of torture and
those who encouraged it by providing a venue for its display on video. I
don't think firing and prison would be too harsh for anyone concerned.I actually think that the artists at your school might want to let their
artistic imaginations explore the ways that the cat might like to effect
revenge on its torturers. Perhaps a different torture could
be devised for each of the perpetrators and for those who defended the
action, and each of the tortures could be filmed for public display at the
art gallery. The public could certainly learn something, if
the logic of the torturers holds, from an artistic probing of the rage and
pain that would prompt the cat to exact such terrible revenge. Why
not--it's only the art" and the message that counts, right?
(The artists at your school could, of course, be more merciful than the
cat-torturers by stopping short of permanently impairing or killing their
subjects.)I would appreciate it, if you are able to do so, if you would forward my
message to the truly disgraceful people involved in all aspects of the
cat-tortured and to their defenders. Thank you very much for your
consideration of my request for punishment of the perpetrators.Starr Bowie
P.O.B. 73203 T St. Station, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20056
202-462-0452
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