Linnéa Ryshke

I
2018
12” X 8.5”
acrylic paint, metal, metal wire, paper, string, ink

An homage to what I can only faintly imagine is experienced by a dairy cow and to a haunting poem by Langston Hughes.

More-than-human animals resist their captivity and oppression in seemingly subtle, but sometimes very clear ways—escape and defiance. The human and nonhuman animal figures take on the form of a flooding wave— both a destructive and creative force. This power comes from an internal build up of energy incited by captivity. This wave, a collective effort of resistance movements of both humans and nonhumans, must break down oppressive structures that have historic standing.

Portions of a scroll made of acts of human and non-human resistance over the past ten years

This painting originates from a similar concept to the drawing above, but gives voice to a cross-species movement of resistance. Within the surging wave, two human faces, one of a black man and another of a woman from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota, reference two movements that I found empowering to witness in the past year: the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Black Lives Matter demonstrations against police violence. The rush of water also takes the form of an orca whale, cow, pig, chicken, and gorilla, representing animals who have actively resisted their abuse in the entertainment and agriculture industries. Considering water is both a destructive and creative force, I metaphorically evoke the need to break down oppressive structures in order to give rise to a newly enhanced, empathetic way of relating to one another. 

Though rarely documented, confined animals are known to escape and resist their captivity. Considering over 70 billion farmed animals are raised and killed each year for food globally, I imaginatively conceived of the magnitude of their energy and desire for freedom that industrial confinement keeps at bay. Composed of transparent, overlapping bodies that come into focus in moments of detail, the drawing envisions these animals, normally restricted to the shadowy outskirts of our society, powerfully moving towards the viewer, the American “consumer.” In the way our man-made structures seem weak when faced with the power of ocean waves, confined animals’ swelling urge to be will continue to put pressure on our physical and ideological structures that maintain their oppression.