39 x 39 inches, twigs, wire, red tape, 2013

14 chickens per square meter inside a ventilated shed is considered free range in Australia. The USDA only requires that the animal has access to the outdoors for an undetermined amount of time each day. That means a coop in America could contain 10 to thousands of chickens inside with a door to the outside the size of a doggy door that is only open for 5 minutes a day with most of the animals unaware the door is even there or open. Free range is not always so free.

You can call the egg company you purchase your animal products from to find out the conditions of the animals. You can get to know a farmer at a farmers market and ask her/him what the conditions are. Maybe even visit the farm.

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Kim Guare is a fiber artist and environmental activist with a passion to share what she has learned about the unethical way our food is produced today. She graduated from the American Academy of Art in Chicago in 2011 with a BFA in watercolor. She is greatly inspired by the organic produce of the farmers market and her time spent working on organic farms.

Artist Statement:

There is a disconnection from the products we buy to eat and where they come from. My artwork demonstrates my concern with our lack of knowledge for the source of the foods we buy and celebrates the beauty of organic whole foods. The subjects often featured in my work are vegetables, fruits, and farm animals. I take my knowledge of food production, and share my ideas with the viewer so one may enjoy the beauty of our food and be challenged by the way our food is being produced.
I would like my work to trigger a desire in the viewer to be more connected to the origin of our food and the natural world.