From group exhibition: Ecotone
Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Alberta
9 February – 14 April 2013
Nickle Galleries, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta
9 August – 19 October 2013
Video projection on sanded acrylic sheet, 12" x 36" x 1/4"
Facing Io: Prairie Abattoir presents a slowly moving image of a man and a cow facing off before a slaughter.
Prairie Meats (Coaldale, Alberta) was a small-scale abattoir that processed livestock from independent and organic farms in the area. Because of their business philosophy of transparency and the humane treatment of animals, Kavanagh was invited to spend a morning on the kill floor, observing the slaughter of six heifers. For 25 years, this abattoir had not significantly changed its methods, employing a single executioner with a .22 long rifle, whose job it was to kill each animal in turn. This video documents vanishing practices just prior to upgrades to the facility.