The Diabolical Evolution of the Chicken

2014; edition of 23

The Chicken feeds us – and, in soup form, even feeds our soul. But what have we done to the chicken? The human habit of manipulating our own food sources traces back over eons and across cultures.
Quite moveable, this book squawks, scratches, and falls within the confines of a fence-like accordion structure with hexagon pages set on wooden dowels. The text is letterpress printed as a loose timeline reproduced from my handwriting. Based in fact, the text selectively skims thousands of years of chicken history, closing with the final days of the tragically short life of a modern hybridized meat bird. Centered on the timeline is a popup of one of these compromised creatures. On a lighter note – printed along the reverse, are many common sayings inspired by chickens.

Inspired by a statement about modern hybrid chickens being bred to live a mere 5-7 weeks I found great references for the timeline in a Smithsonian magazine article. Other online sources provided the sayings.

letterpress, linoleum block relief, dry point, acrylic, silver painted accents, pochoir, wooden dowels; Stonehenge, Lokta