the whole beast

Before anyone may get the idea that I'm Satan incarnate with some of the imagery I've been posting lately, perhaps I should clarify a bit where I'm coming from thematically. I'm not out for pure shock value, to anger vegans or to simply gross people out.

I live In Eastern Market, Detroit where the farmer's markets and slaughterhouses are located. Frequently on my way in to work I'll see a sheepskin fall off the (garbage) truck in front of me. The things I photograph for the most part are only waste products of the meat industry; most of the time I do not pay for my "materials" - there is so little market for offal/organ meats that it is more economical for meat packers to throw away anything but the most prized cuts of muscle meat. America has developed into a culture of muscle meat fetishists, discarding what are not only viable forms of nutrition in most all other cultures, but delicacies. I aim to highlight our culture of indiscriminate waste through a feeling of beauty and decadence photographically. By absurdly pairing these "waste products" with romantic holidays, fine dinner settings, fashion shoots and adorning models, I hope to highlight the indiscriminacy of what we waste and what we choose to eat - what we eat is not based on taste, but on perceived beauty and rejection of beauty, much like the operation of the fashion industry.