Fat bottoms, no hearts

Beef cattle. Cattle raised for meat that we know as beef. A cow in the pasture with a calve is not common. When looking at something as a cow in the pasture, what do you really see? With a cow, we only see the fat bottoms, the literal name for the beef cattle in the Netherlands 'dikbillen'. But we don't look at their faces, we don't recognise their hearts, their family bonds, their social nature, their empathy or emotional expressions in their face or language of communication. We keep them behind fences, give them feed wrapped in plastic that makes them fat faster, breed them on a hereditary defect to grow more muscle than nature meant for them to have and forget the sentient lives that are inside those meaty bodies. We only see the fat bottoms, not the hearts. 

My choice for Hahnemühle Bamboo Fine Art paper is based on the intention to decrease human impact and improve the sustainability of our world. Both through the subjects of photography and the way I create my art is aligned with the idea of having as little negative impact on my surroundings. And keeping it natural and sustainable with limited edition prints on bamboo fibers. I see and capture the world and subjects as they are and how I see them with my documentary style photography. Naturally beautiful without interference and sometimes painful when you start to think about the impact of human choices on other lives and the world.