Nov 8, 2008
Los Angeles, CA
Here is my reply to the letter of objection sent to Gastronomica magazine:
The point of my project is to raise cultural awareness and cause viewers to rethink ideas about Western cultural superiority. My work questions whether we have modernized and sterilized our food industry to the point where we have lost something of value that less-developed nations still retain. How can we impose our own standards of right and wrong on those who must eat, on those who do not see a dog as a companion but as food, given their cultural norms?
Most of my images do, in fact, depict local and grass-fed livestock, because the majority of the cultures I photograph know little of the industrialized killing machine we have created here in the States. Experience has taught me that markets like those depicted in my photos waste far less than we do and make use of every part of the slaughtered animal. Their practices represent a far more profound display of respect for the sentient being that gave up its life than does the standard Western approach of only eating select parts and discarding the rest.
I urge Gastronomica readers to put aside outrage and take another look at my work, and at the fuller body of work that is offered on my Web site (www.charliestudio.com/). We must look beyond our immediate surroundings and think about the global society.
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