The Chicken and Food series began during my 2014 Arts/Industry residency at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. While preparing for an exhibition focused on birds, I wondered what it would mean—materially and conceptually—to cast a raw chicken drumstick. That initial experiment opened a trajectory of inquiry that continues to unfold.

In this body of work, I examine encounters of intimacy and comfort while exploring the power dynamics that shape the behaviors of both humans and nonhuman animals. Focusing specifically on the chicken—a species central to global systems of consumption—I explore the ethical and epistemological consequences of objectifying animals for food, entertainment, and decoration. The relationship between humans and animals is marked by profound contradiction: we live alongside them, name them, attempt to communicate with them, and yet simultaneously treat them as commodities to be used, consumed, or displayed. This ambivalence, often unexamined, reveals cultural and psychological distinctions we make about what—and who—is considered edible, and what these distinctions disclose about the complexities of coexistence.

Since my Kohler residency, I have carried the original drumstick mold with me to other residencies, including the New Harmony Clay Project and Punch Projects, continuing to expand the series across different contexts. As the work has developed, I have cast additional forms—various eggs, raw wings, and sculpted chicken heads—and frequently combine them with other materials and text. The capacity to create multiples and achieve exacting detail remains central to my process, offering a means of examining how repetition, replication, and material precision shape the ways we perceive and categorize animal bodies. This line of investigation continues to inform my practice and will remain a focus in the ongoing evolution of the series.