Fish as Food
July 2023
At the time I was working on this piece, I had been a vegetarian for many years. I never had any trouble giving up meat; it didn't add any troublesome friction to my life and something inside me always hungers for asceticism. The one exception was fish and shellfish (particularly clams, and cans of sardines in olive oil), which I had began craving with a gradually increasing intensity. As a longtime vegetarian (and even a half-hearted carnist when I used to eat meat) I can't escape from the violence and death inherent in eating meat. I always felt like the best policy was to look at death straight in the eyes. These thoughts inspired me, along with the waters of the sea, stirring and active up top, but abyssal below, and at all levels filled with beings living off of hunted fish.
Nowadays I've brought fish back into my diet. Part of listening to my body and embracing sense pleasure. This could very well change in the future of course, in either way.
The black and white stripes at about 9 o'clock on the page inspired me most. That's from a fax machine error from my job at the time, and there was no chance I wouldn't salvage it for art purposes. Still have some somewhere I think ...