Monday, October 15, 2012

No Meat


 
No Meat.  Stitched word:  Vegetarian.  Hand stitched.  Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin.  25" x 19" unframed; 31" x 25" framed.  Click on image to enlarge.

One of the most basic decisions everyone makes every day is about food.  What to eat?  When to eat?  How much to eat?  These are questions we often answer without too much thought.  Yet, food is essential to life.  Decisions about food are important.  Not everyone makes the same decisions.

Increasingly there are more vegetarians in our society.  One on-line source includes:  A “Vegetarianism in America” study shows that 3.2 percent of U.S. adults, or 7.3 million people, follow a vegetarian-based diet. Approximately 0.5 percent, or 1 million, of those are vegans, who consume no animal products at all. In addition, 10 percent of U.S., adults, or 22.8 million people, say they largely follow a vegetarian-inclined diet.  The study also found that nearly 12 million non-vegetarians were considering this dietary choice.  People become vegetarian for a number of reasons: environmental, ethical, religious, food-safety, animal welfare, personal health, and both weight lose and weight maintenance reasons.

Simply put, being a vegetarian is a choice.... a simple decision to enjoy a meatless diet.  The nice lady who posed for the piece made this decision forty-two years ago, at age sixteen.  She doesn't eat meat.  I stitched her portrait in an equally simple, straightforward manner using plain shirt buttons for a boarder and a single word on the fabric.  I hope those seeing the work think about their personal dietary choices.

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