Cow Skull

May McDowell

        My work focuses heavily on ecology and human interaction with the environment, how we affect and construct our ecosystems and how they change us in return. Much of my work also explores man-made constructs like identity and social strata, examining the ways we collect and divide ourselves. 

        The visual language of my work is inspired by illustrators like Mike Mignola, Petra Nordlund, Gaelle Geniller, and Linnea Sterte. Using light and shadow to create defined, naturalistic silhouettes. Cow Skull was created using ink washes and a dip pen, with a combination of wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry techniques. 

        With these, the goal of my work is to convey human resilience and our natural disposition toward empathy. In a world that is so divided, it is vitally important to recenter our nature as social animals, and deconstruct the discrimination and xenophobia that have been built into our society.

        A cow skull represents the manufactured distance between those who produce goods and those who consume them. Consumer culture, specifically American consumer culture, completely separates the production of goods from the consumption of goods. Little consideration is given in the aisles of a grocery store to where a cut of meat came from. Even less is given to those who may have raised it or slaughtered it. American food production is only possible because of migrant workers. From agriculture to processing and distribution, these jobs require hard work and long hours, often for small compensation. Meanwhile, the people performing this essential labour are being villainized and hunted en masse. The cow skull represents this injustice, something discarded when it fails to produce. Cow Skull is about the inherent value of life and labour, and the respect due to the people we rely on.