Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art

About this Work

Sue Coe gained international notoriety for her series of artworks (Porkopolis) equating (somewhat controversially) cruelty to animals with the Jewish Holocaust. Referring to the works of Käthe Kollwitz, George Grosz, and Francisco Goya, she created disturbing images of slaughterhouses, factory farms, and lab testing. In 1998 she began selling her prints online with part of the proceeds going to support animal rights organizations. Associated with a group of satirical artists known as the Outlaws of Printmaking, including Tom Huck, Coe sees her imagery was being a “graphic witness” to the horrors of our consumer economy. Her website gives a running tally of the number of animals killed around the world for meat, dairy, and egg consumption since you’ve opened the link. Rather than merely observing societal ills, Coe endeavors to actively change human behavior.