Ruby Atkins being human – the absurd nature of farming

This project was heavily inspired by the post humanism lecture, which examined humanity not on its own merit but on its relationship with the nonhuman. With that in mind I found the imagery of sheep dipping within the archive and aimed to further explore humanity though the relationship with cattle, specifically this one exercise of dipping. at its core, dipping is a method of protecting sheep form tics and other unwanted bugs. despite its good intentions the sheep clearly do not understand the benefits and struggle a lot during the process. this to me shows the complete absurdity of the action while demonstrating the control humans have over cattle. This relationship is first and foremost a human pursuit suggesting that to be human is to feel a superiority over that which exists below you. I hoped to challenge this notion with large bright gaudy paintings following in the philosophy of the post human to bring to light the ridiculousness of the whole process.