Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

Allowed to Grow Old: Portraits of Elderly Animals from Farm Sanctuaries

4.7/5 ( ratings)

There’s nothing quite like a relationship with an aged pet—a dog or cat who has been at our side for years, forming an ineffable bond. Pampered pets, however, are a rarity among animals who have been domesticated. Farm animals, for example, are usually slaughtered before their first birthday. We never stop to think about it, but the typical images we see of cows, chickens, pigs, and the like are of young animals. What would we see if they were allowed to grow old?

Isa Leshko shows us, brilliantly, with this collection of portraits. To create these portraits, she spent hours with her subjects, gaining their trust and putting them at ease. The resulting images reveal the unique personality of each animal. It’s impossible to look away from the animals in these images as they unforgettably meet our gaze, simultaneously calm and challenging. In these photographs we see the cumulative effects of the hardships of industrialized farm life, but also the healing that time can bring, and the dignity that can emerge when farm animals are allowed to age on their own terms.

Each portrait is accompanied by a brief biographical note about its subject, and the book is rounded out with essays that explore the history of animal photography, the place of beauty in activist art, and much more. Open this book to any page. Meet Teresa, a thirteen-year-old Yorkshire Pig, or Melvin, an eleven-year-old Angora Goat, or Tom, a seven-year-old Broad Breasted White Turkey. You’ll never forget them.

Pages: 126

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Release: May 10, 2019

ISBN: 022639137X

ISBN 13: 9780226391373

Allowed to Grow Old: Portraits of Elderly Animals from Farm Sanctuaries

4.7/5 ( ratings)

There’s nothing quite like a relationship with an aged pet—a dog or cat who has been at our side for years, forming an ineffable bond. Pampered pets, however, are a rarity among animals who have been domesticated. Farm animals, for example, are usually slaughtered before their first birthday. We never stop to think about it, but the typical images we see of cows, chickens, pigs, and the like are of young animals. What would we see if they were allowed to grow old?

Isa Leshko shows us, brilliantly, with this collection of portraits. To create these portraits, she spent hours with her subjects, gaining their trust and putting them at ease. The resulting images reveal the unique personality of each animal. It’s impossible to look away from the animals in these images as they unforgettably meet our gaze, simultaneously calm and challenging. In these photographs we see the cumulative effects of the hardships of industrialized farm life, but also the healing that time can bring, and the dignity that can emerge when farm animals are allowed to age on their own terms.

Each portrait is accompanied by a brief biographical note about its subject, and the book is rounded out with essays that explore the history of animal photography, the place of beauty in activist art, and much more. Open this book to any page. Meet Teresa, a thirteen-year-old Yorkshire Pig, or Melvin, an eleven-year-old Angora Goat, or Tom, a seven-year-old Broad Breasted White Turkey. You’ll never forget them.

Pages: 126

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Release: May 10, 2019

ISBN: 022639137X

ISBN 13: 9780226391373

More books from Sy Montgomery

How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals

The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood

3.9/5 ( ratings)

Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World

The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness

Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot

Birdology: Adventures with a Pack of Hens, a Peck of Pigeons, Cantankerous Crows, Fierce Falcons, Hip Hop Parrots, Baby Hummingbirds, and One Murderously Big Living Dinosaur

4.1/5 ( ratings)

The Hummingbirds' Gift: Wonder, Beauty, and Renewal on Wings

4.1/5 ( ratings)

Inky's Amazing Escape: How a Very Smart Octopus Found His Way Home

4.2/5 ( ratings)

The Hawk's Way: Encounters with Fierce Beauty

3.6/5 ( ratings)

Journey of the Pink Dolphins: An Amazon Quest

3.8/5 ( ratings)

Tamed and Untamed: Close Encounters of the Animal Kind

3.8/5 ( ratings)

Guys Read: True Stories

3.4/5 ( ratings)

Spell of the Tiger: The Man-Eaters of Sundarbans

3.9/5 ( ratings)

Search for the Golden Moon Bear: Science and Adventure in Southeast Asia

3.8/5 ( ratings)

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2019 (The Best American Series ®)

4.2/5 ( ratings)

Rate this book!

Write a review?