Pig cage set up in Chalk Farm shows horrors of meat trade
Installation shows how non-human animal farming exploits female reproductive organs
Friday, 30th August 2024 — By Caitlin Maskell
A metal farming crate will be set up by Stephanie Lane
A CAGE is being set up in Chalk Farm so people can get in and experience what it is like to be a pig held in a claustrophobic metal farming crate.
The farrowing crate exhibition created by artist Stephanie Lane is being held at the Koppel Collective in Adelaide Road.
There will also be examples of tools used in pig farming at the exhibi- tion and audio from an actual pig farm, morphed with human sounds, to convey what it would be like if humans were held in these conditions. The idea is to raise awareness of the terrible treatment of sows in UK farms.
Ms Lane said: “I have found that with all non-human animal farming, usually the victims are females, through all the different ways their reproductive systems are exploited, and I find that there is a correlation between non-human females and human females in that sense.
“For me, being a mother myself, with pig farming and the farrowing crate, particularly when the mothers are kept in the crates unable to move, just imagining a human mother experiencing that would be unacceptable.
“There will be a woman in the crate the entire time and then there will be a window of time for guests and members of the public to take part where each per- son can get in the crate and experience it.
“A lot of people who are coming have never heard of this or of pig farming so it will be a really powerful way for them to experience that.”
Ms Lane has a back- ground in photography and film directing and has worked on projects with Unicef and the UN. She held similar events, drawing attention to the brutalities of the fish trade, in Brighton last weekend.
She said the aim of the exhibition was to shock the public with the hope that they think twice about what goes on their plates and the bigger picture of the pig farming industry.
She said: “It shocks me that this is happening in real life.
“I’m an advocate for animal rights but also an advocate for human rights. To be honest there are things happening to humans that aren’t so far away from this already and even the humans that are working in this industry are suffering in their own ways as well.
“So it’s not just a plea for what’s happening to non-humans, but for people to consider the whole picture of what we’re supporting. I think it’s crucial that we take a minute to learn about it and understand it on a deeper level.
“We’re so used to just consuming pigs and seeing them on our plate, we don’t really relate to them or understand them as being sentient beings so I think for humans to be able to experience even a tiny amount of this is probably the most profound way they will be able to consider what happens.”
The exhibition, a ticketed event in Chalk Farm on Saturday evening, will go on a tour of the UK from September to December to Birmingham and Bristol before returning to London.
