Thruway 

Editor: Here we have Sue Coe's striking "Thruway." It depicts a rather gruesome scene – a man dumping what looks like discarded chicks and eggs into a trash receptacle. The visual style has a raw, almost comic-book-like feel, and it’s making me pretty uneasy. What’s your take on this piece? Curator: Uneasy is right. Coe doesn't hold back, does she? It's like a punch to the gut, visually. For me, it's all about the casual cruelty juxtaposed with the vibrant, almost cartoonish style. It brings to mind the phrase, the banality of evil. Notice the writing scrawled at the top about a hatchery discarding chicks; that’s our key here. It becomes a powerful statement about industrial animal farming. Do you see anything else that stands out? Editor: The cans amidst the chicks—it looks almost like the refuse of human consumption is mingled with these discarded lives. Curator: Exactly. She's forcing us to confront our complicity, you know? It’s not just *out there,* it’s *in here,* with our soda cans. What starts as bright and cartoonish twists into something quite sinister. The birds look so lively and innocent but surrounded by refuse of every sort. What a statement on disregard! I like the word *disregard* to summarize that… don't you? Editor: It's definitely effective, if disturbing. I guess I wasn’t prepared for something quite so…graphic! It gives food waste and animal rights a totally new and unsettling artistic vocabulary. Curator: And it's the unsettling that lingers, isn’t it? Coe’s point, precisely. The truth, rendered uncomfortable. A new vocabulary that speaks truth through vivid visuals. Now, *that's* the power of art, isn’t it?