Author Description

“Neal Auch confronts us with an unsettling idea: there is beauty in horror. The photographs in his meticulous anatomical study of the pig, with their deep shadows and rich contrast, evoke Caravaggio’s breathtaking tenebrism. Auch lays bare what goes into a slice of bacon: violence, overcrowding, death, power, lack of conscience. In its contemplative beauty, this is art with the power to mobilize.” —Agustina Bazterrica, Premio Clarín de Novela Prize-winning author of Tender is the Flesh “The whimsical subject of children's songs and stories, often the main course at meal time, and perceived as an impure creature by ancient belief structures; Neal Auch presents the pig in a curious fashion through his matter-of-fact photographic approach. Auch's impressively detailed photographs present this equally beloved and disdained animal in a beautiful and unsettling way, much akin to the way in which it is perceived in our collective imagination. Auch simultaneously puts on raw display the bleak colour palette and complex anatomical intricacies of a once-living creature, reminding us of the beauty and fragility of life.” — Mark Riddick, illustrator and graphic artist