Fiona Long Art

well i got to admit
you did it yourself

please don't do it again

Sorry Vincent! :-(
I probably won't. It was rather unpleasant. I'm sure I'll eat rabbit again though, and I imagine that the skins will just be thrown away.

As a friend I have a question. Are these photographs making your Photostream more enjoyable?
I agree that it is your personal liking or disliking but Fiona, Dear do you really ,really need to upload these shots.

Hi Sudip. No I didn't need to upload these photographs and I considered it carefully before I did. I thought about making them for friends and family only but since my account has been NIPSAd they effectively are anyway. Many people have found them interesting but I agree that they are not necessarily enjoyable. The rabbit preparation photos have got more views than my recent natural cordage making photos for example.

I respect people's decisions for being vegetarian but I believe that meat eaters should be aware of where their food comes from and the processes it went through before it got to the supermarket shelf all neatly wrapped in plastic, not looking like an animal at all. If people can't handle the realities of meat eating then perhaps they shouldn't be eating it at all. These animals had a happy life in the wild, a quick death and were entirely utilised. Their skins and meat were not wasted. I have even used their skulls and legs. Admittedly I haven't used these parts for survival tools but at least they weren't just thrown away as they would have been (including the skins). I thanked the rabbits before I skinned them and they fed my family for more than two meals.

I apologise for any offense caused, especially to vegetarians who this message is less appropriate for. I didn't know how to mark them as may offend myself so I put may offend in the titles so that people could very quickly look away and not enlarge the images if they didn't want to see them. I hoped that this would be enough. If you have any suggestions then I would be happy to listen.

Interesting project. In the context of human culture, I think this is far more significant than merely drawing a rabbit. It doesn't offend me but I can understand how vegetarians might be disturbed by this.

Maybe I missed it in the comments, but I was wondering where you got
the rabbits. Hunting?

Thank you nukesimi! I didn't hunt for them as I wouldn't know where to go and don't have the equipment etc but it would have been an even more complete process if I had hunted them myself. I'm afraid that I cheated and got them from the butchers!

I got your point.

I am not vegetarian.

How about using text with every photograph to explain the objective.

Good idea Sudip!
I've done that now.
Thank you.
:-)

As a woman and artist i am so impressed by the undertaking of this whole project! Wow!
I'm not a vegetarian because i occasionally eat fish.the majority of my diet is vegan.
i agree that meat eaters and people in general really should know where their food comes from. the process's involved to get chicken into our stores would certainly horrify most people!

it was hard to look at some of the photo's but i think it was an amazingly courageous act and very dignifying for the animal. like you said- by the time people buy their package of meat in the store it no longer resembles an animal. i believe its respectful to the animal to recognize it as something that was once living like you did by starting with it whole, going thru the motions, and then using every bit.

and then the book is amazing in itself!!!!! this project is SO inspiring!!! Brava! thanks for sharing it! ;^ )

Thank you so much for your comment Bellah. You really understand what I was trying to achieve and the way I went about it. Thank you!

Tis is a really fascinating and impressive outcome.

Plus I learnt about the courgette fibre cordage too.

Thanks for the education.

Fiona you are an amazing artist, this project makes me extremely proud of you and proud to call you my sister.

You keep surprising me!!! Thank you!!! This is unbelievable and it made me laugh just to think of the horrified reactions of some people. But there you go, art is supposed to touch people and this definetely cannot have left people indifferent. Although I lived most of my life in Portugal (daughter of a portuguese father and an english mother), I lived in England in the 70's for a couple of years and when I came back I could not face going into one of our butchers because they were so "primitive" compared to what I had seen in England. Life soon took care of that and I have had to go through that whole process on occasion. IThings are totally different now and most people have never been through that experience and probably won't for their entire lives but I agree with you that is important to be aware of what is involved when you buy meat off the supermarket shelves. Anyway, back to your project, the end result is absolutely stunning and quite pleasing aesthetically. Well done and congratulations for being so brave not only for carrying out the whole process but for having the courage to show it.

Thank you Paul, Karl and Big Mamma Costa! Your comments are very much appreciated!

I like it :) It is one of those works that don't leave you indifferent!

Just another art group

Poor Rabbits, If this doesn't put people off eating them they are sick. what right do we have to take there lifes then cut them up? Its sick .

If it does put people off eating rabbit then they shouldn't have been eating it in the first place. Or any other meat for that matter. I believe that we should be in touch with what we eat and respect the animals that we consume, not treat them like faceless plastic coated commodities that come neatly wrapped in the supermarket.

Since rabbits need to be culled anyway, it would be an awful pity not to eat them or their lives would have gone to waste. If we can use their skins too then so much the better.

If they were not culled then they would ruin the crops. If we were not eating meat but all the crops were being ruined too then what on Earth would we eat then?