To capture the love and labor that goes into one of our most intensive resources, livestock, and to also celebrate our farmer’s sacred work in raising, processing, and distributing animal products. “Tell me where your chicken came from” is a peek into the hard labor and long hours invested into transforming a feathery chicken into an appetizing cutlet.

I began this project when I traveled to the Ithaca Farmers Market to learn more about farming in New York. There, I was able to connect with Justin Jordan, owner of Jordan Farms in southern New York. Justin was very kind to teach me about the barriers and difficulties of farming that have stemmed from overwhelming industrial farming. Through this project, I learned about some of the ways that small-scale farmers are financially disenfranchised.

This video is intended to be a transparent example of what it takes to transform a living animal into a cooked chicken breast. Through this artistic production, we are able to acknowledge at least some of the complexity of chicken processing. Although graphic, the scenes are surprisingly beautiful and shocking as we are exposed to the vivid colors and textures of slaughter. There is also an underlying theme of zero-waste, throughout the video we see various ways to use the entire bird. Feet and all!