![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/rsz_family1.jpg\" "\\"rsz_family1\\"")
<\/a>Ydessa Hendeles, Family, 2015, pigment print on archival paper, framed in hand-painted white poplar frame of 16 3\/4\u201d x 19 1\/8\u201d x 1 1\/2″. Photo:\u00a0Robert Keziere. Courtesy of Barbara Edwards Contemporary<\/p>\nThe largest of the installations, Prize<\/em>, consists of an anatomical model of a pig atop a child\u2019s table and an English Na\u00efve School oil painting suspended from steel chains. One of the school\u2019s most popular subjects during the 19th<\/span>\u00a0century was the prize-winning livestock of fairs, estates, and markets and their owners. Compared to other animals such as cattle, sheep, and horses, pigs were rarely depicted because of their relative lack of appeal. By contrast, evolutionary and biological studies have shown pigs to demonstrate considerable intellect compared to cats and dogs in addition to close genetic ties they have to humans. The pairing of these works seem to allude to the contrasting scientific and socio-economic perceptions surrounding pigs.<\/p>\n The title Death to Pigs <\/em>is a reference to the Manson family murders in the summer of 1969, which were infamously inspired by the Beatles\u2019 song Piggies<\/em>. Emerging during the break of the Vietnam War and the surmounting paranoia of the Cold War, the song was intended to incite popular protest against the people who perpetuate the conflict (commonly recognized as the \u201cestablishment\u201d). Therefore, Hendeles\u2019 photograph entitled Princess, <\/em>depicts a young Leslie Van Houten, who eagerly becomes a member of the family\u2019s perverse ideal. Its original prospect of peacefulness and happiness became warped by the misinterpretation, or perhaps the over-interpretation, of this activist message, leading Van Houten to participate in the brutal murder of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.<\/p>\n Accompanying her photograph is a first edition copy (printed and bound in 1945 following the Second World War) of George Orwell\u2019s Animal Farm: A Fairy Story<\/em>, in which he masterfully recreates the progression of Russian history following the rise of the Communists. What began as an inspirational rebellion against the oppressive rule of the bourgeoisie eventually devolved into the highly-bureaucratized, ruthless Stalinist regime, despite claiming to have followed those original principles of equality and fairness. Following the course of history, in the book, Napoleon (the leading pig) assumes the role of the ideological pedagogue, transforming the idealistic egalitarianism into an autocratic hierarchy: according to Orwell, \u201ceveryone is equal, but some are more equal than others.\u201d<\/p>\n Death to Pigs\u00a0<\/em>is a multimedia collection of images and artifacts that explore some of the societal allegories and allusions associated with the imagery of pigs. It is intrinsically diverse and interdisciplinary, venturing through history and across cultures to deliver a rich yet still comprehensive view into the multiple iterations. In doing so, Hendeles not only offers a glimpse into the complex development of the \u201cpig\u201d in human civilization; she exposes much of the controversial, characteristically \u201cvulgar\u201d underbelly of the human condition, or rather the potential it has to descend to the begotten level.<\/p>\n<\/a>Ydessa Hendeles, Prize, 2015, oil painting suspended from painted steel chains, anatomical model, child’s table, installation dimensions: 116\u201d x 36″ x 24″.\u00a0Photo:\u00a0Robert Keziere.\u00a0Courtesy of Barbara Edward Contemporary<\/p>\n<\/a>Ydessa Hendeles, Princess (1964), 2015, pigment print on archival paper and first edition copy of Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell, both framed in hand painted white poplar frames, installation dimensions: 14 1\/2\u201d x 24 9\/16″ x 1 3\/8″.\u00a0Photo:\u00a0Robert Keziere.\u00a0Courtesy of Barbara Edwards Contemporary<\/p>\n<\/a>Ydessa Hendeles, Three Little Pigs, 2015, sound video housed in custom-made, wall-mounted 1\/4 inch steel plate box with key-lock door and antique chain; cast-bronze sculpture on wall-mounted steel shelf, installation dimensions: 22 3\/8\u201d x 35\u201d x 4 3\/4″. Photo:\u00a0Robert Keziere. Courtesy of Barbara Edwards Contemporary<\/p>\n