No More Animal Cruelty For Art!

To: NYC Art Galleries

We, the undersigned, are concerned with the abuse of animals in art exhibitions.

Artist Laura Ginn recently hosted an extravagant dinner in Manhattan to complement her art show, "Tomorrow We Will Feast Again On What We Catch." The dinner was made with rat meat, and the artist wore a fur coat made from the pelts of 300 rats.

Catching and eating animals for survival is one thing, but Ginn purchased and used medical rats from California. She used thousands of dollars solicited from the public to fund the exhibition and dinner. Despite the exhibition's primitive survivalist motif, the use of medical rats in this fashion was indulgent and glamorized animal exploitation for the sake of art. Eating wild rats is dangerous because of the diseases they carry, so the dinner/performance art had little if any educational value from a survivalist perspective.

This is not the first time animals have been killed, tortured or exploited for the sake of an art show. New York City is a leader in the art world, and should not allow these types of shows to become trendy. While we understand that artists have the right to express themselves in ways that may be considered offensive, we believe that animals should have the right to live without being involved in these expressions. We urge you to ban future exhibitions involving animal exploitation and cruelty. Thank you for taking the time to read and consider our petition.