ISA LESHKO: Around 50 billion land animals are killed in factory farms globally each year. It is nothing short of a miracle to be in the presence of a farm animal who has managed to reach old age.
MELISSA BREYER: ‘We are a species enchanted by the young – from kittens and puppies to nubile models and the soft shunning of older people. But there is a crack in our youth-obsessed culture and I think it is an important one: While we swoon for chicks and coals and cubs, we also love old animals. The thing is, we don’t have the opportunity to meet a lot of old animals. Pampered pets, sure. But farm animals, for example, don’t generally get the chance to live for very long – maybe six months? A year? Their “purpose” – in the dystopian thing that is factory farming – is to be born and then slaughtered to feed the two-legged animals with opposable thumbs.
Which is why a new book of portraits showing the beauty and dignity of older animals from farm sanctuaries is such a poignant creation. The book, Allowed to Grow Old: Portraits of Elderly Animals from Farm Sanctuaries (University of Chicago Press, 2019) is by photographer Isa Leshko and is the culmination of a long-term project more than a decade in the making… And this is one of the things that is so remarkable about the portraits – you can see each animal’s personality; their singularity and distinction.
Each is a beautiful, living individual, not some abstract “thing” produced en masse at a factory for the purpose of fueling humans. The animals who are liberated and find sanctuary are the outrageously lucky ones – the lottery winners. As Leshko writes, around 50 billion land animals are factory farmed globally each year. “It is nothing short of a miracle to be in the presence of a farm animal who has managed to reach old age”.’ SOURCE…
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