The kitty on your lap, the steak on the plate – why are some animals loved and pampered, while others are fattened and slaughtered? Painter and illustrator Carolin Günther brings the division of domestic and farm animals, edible and non-edible, onto paper in the picture book “This is how we have always done it”. To achieve this, she blurs the boundaries in her surreal illustrations. It’s “about the sausage, the sausage on our plate and the pet in our bed.”
Günther has children dance around a tree decorated with meat and sausages and the chicks are chopped up in the smoothie maker. They are detailed images that could have come from a dark dream and leave a bitter aftertaste. And that is intentional. The morbid illustrations are intended to stimulate thought and invite us to “reflect on social norms and morals regarding our meat consumption.”
Morbid food for thought in pictures
Carolin Günther herself was still a little girl when she witnessed a slaughter. The sights, sounds and smells turned her into a vegetarian and later a vegan. She says: “Most of us lovingly pet our dog or cat and the next moment bite into a bratwurst without having the slightest idea what’s actually in it, where it comes from and what the animal that had to die for it looked like. ” The picture book is the conclusion of the art project “About Meat”, made “for everyone who does it differently” and also for people who “donate to the animal shelter and eat meat rolls at the same time”.
“That’s how we’ve always done it” by Carolin Günther was crowdfunded and is now also available in bookstores.
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