Meat Love - Amber Husain

In an era of climate catastrophe and corporate agribusiness, the perception of meat has undergone a dramatic transformation. Urbanites across the West are encouraged to look at the animals we consume and, by doing so, learn to treat them with compassion. We are asked to soften our desire for flesh and dignify our relationship with the land. But can our appetite for meat be redeemed by this new perspective? Can an ‘ethical’ approach to farming, selling, and consuming meat truly save both the planet and our souls?

In "Meat Love," Amber Husain deconstructs the beauty, tragedy, and mystery that embellish our images of meat. Drawing on a range of visual sources—from contemporary art and film to Instagram and advertising—Husain probes the nature of ‘love’ in contemporary human-animal relations. This illustrated essay casts a materialist’s critical eye on the visual culture of meat as it gentrifies and mutates, shaping, for better or worse, our political imaginations.

Explore "Meat Love" to understand how the visual representation of meat impacts our ethical views and political landscapes in today's world.