Photos: meaty art on display

You are greeted by a meaty but also eerie and sinister atmosphere when you enter the exhibition hall.

Anyone who has watched the popular Netflix show “Dexter” will feel they are in familiar territory when they enter Heiðrikur á Heygum’s “Kjøt” (“Meat”) exhibition, which opens today at 3pm in Tórshavn’s Müllers Pakkhús.

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“Kjøt” consists of nine large watercolour paintings through which Heygum reflects on meat and how we separate the meat from the animal.

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"I was fascinated by photos of Faroese food that were posted on social media. The colours were beautiful, and sometimes it looks like flowers. That made me think.” (Heiðrikur á Heygum)

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"In most countries, animals are slaughtered behind closed doors. We strip them of their skin and wrap them in plastic instead. We clean the meat to make it look pretty and free of blood so we don’t feel bad when we see it on display in the supermarkets. But is it meat from sheep, apes or humans? What’s the difference? It’s all meat.” (Heiðrikur á Heygum)

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"I made the paintings big because I want people to feel the message as a slap in the face.” (Heiðrikur á Heygum)

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"Intestines are disgusting and beautiful at the same time.” (Heiðrikur á Heygum)

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"There are some inconsistencies here because lots of meat looks revolting, yet we eat it." (Heiðrikur á Heygum)

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"Although a sheep’s head and intestines look beautiful, the fact that we know what it is prevents us from appreciating this beauty. This is something I’m trying to portray in my exhibition.” (Heiðrikur á Heygum)

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The painting of the vacuum-packed sheep’s head is already sold.

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“Many city dwellers have become clinically removed from animal slaughter and everything that is naturally associated with eating meat. People have no idea where the meat comes from. (Heiðrik á Heygum)

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Read the Faroese version of this article here.

More Faroese News in English. http://kvf.fo/forsida/english