The Butcher

The Butcher presents the figure of a butcher standing behind his work, holding a knife over a slab of meat. Rendered through expressive black lines and restrained ochre tones, the drawing creates a tension between the ordinary act of labour and the violence embedded within it. For me as an artist, The Butcher can be read as a meditation on the systems behind what we consume. The finished product appears before us, but the physical labour, skill, blood and human presence required to produce it are often hidden. The drawing brings that invisible labour back into view.