65. Meat in Art

Meat is a ‘meta object’ upon which varied social, cultural and political identities and practices converge (Chatterjee and Subramaniam, 2023). But what is “meat”? Its definition has changed over time from an Old English term given to simply mean “food”, to today’s butchers’ cuts and their vegan simulacra. For many, meat is purely the edible flesh of an animal, whereas for others it signals a broader attitude about human nature. Most profoundly, meat symbolises humans’ dominion over other animals (Fiddes, 1991) who become the ‘absent referent’ of flesh products (Adams, 1990). Following meat’s commodification at the end of the nineteenth century, the substance became representative of the modern condition: industrialised violence at scale. Meat has therefore become a byword for the objectification—even brutalisation—of not just animals but humans too, those whose humanity is denied and desecrated, reduced to the status of “dead meat”.

Artists have long made meat the subject and, more recently, the medium of their work. This panel asks whether we can identify dominant themes in artists’ depiction and use of meat. Papers may discuss how the contested definition of “meat” becomes visible in art; how artists relate flesh to social phenomena such as identitarian politics, climate collapse, conflict or health; the representation of animal referents; the use of meat/ byproducts as a medium and the ethics of such practice. This panel is interested in proposals that span geographies and media and welcomes research about any historical period.

Themes: modern and contemporary art; meat; materiality

Additional format comment: Session of four 20-minute research papers, each followed by 5 minutes for questions.

Lead Convenor: Rosalind Hayes, Durham University, United Kingdom

To submit a Paper to this Session, please follow the guidance on our website and complete the AAH 2027 Call for Papers Proposal Submission Form.