Censored Landscapes with Isabella La Rocca González

Eleven years in the making, Censored Landscapes by artist and author Isabella La Rocca González, unveils the hidden reality of farming animals, offering a powerful and emotionally charged exploration. La Rocca González’s lens captures the haunting beauty of landscapes that portray the animal agricultural industry. A number included with each image represents the lives imprisoned within the facility, drawing attention to the magnitude of suffering behind the banal exteriors. Portraits of nonhuman animals who have been confined in such facilities are emblematic of the vast number of animals whose individuality, sentience, and beauty are obliterated by the industry. Creative nonfiction and research by La Rocca González tell a factual story about the most abusive industry of the twenty-first century. Also included in the book are contributions from poets, scholars, and activists. The book has been endorsed by such luminaries as artist and author Sue Coe, Nobel prize winning author JM Coatzee, and musician Moby.

The presentation will touch on the myriad ecological ramifications of farming animals, including unspeakable animal suffering, environmental devastation, worker exploitation, human health detriments, economic and political inequalities, colonialism, and social injustice. The artist will also discuss the challenges of creating an activist art project about an industry that insinuates itself into all aspects of our lives, and a profoundly controversial topic.

Isabella La Rocca González is an award-winning artist, author, and activist based in the United States. Her work is part of a long tradition in art and photography: to bring to light and find beauty in the hidden, unconscious, or disregarded. As the daughter of emigrants from Mexico and Italy respectively, she strives to reconcile values from her Indigenous roots with her European heritage. Her art practice is also inextricably linked with her ecofeminist, total liberation activism. Her photographs have been exhibited internationally including a solo show at the Center for Photography in Woodstock, NY. Awards for her work include the Ferguson Grant from the Friends of Photography in San Francisco, CA for excellence and commitment to the field of photography. She received her BA in Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and her MFA in Photography from Indiana University. After thirty years teaching art and photography on the post-secondary level, she has left academia to devote herself full-time to her art practice and to growing a native pollinator garden.

Censored Landscapes book website: https://www.censoredlandscapes.com

Isabella La Rocca González website: https://www.glissi.org

WEAD artist's page: https://directory.weadartists.org/artist/isabella-la-rocca

Photo credit: Isabella La Rocca González

Host or Publisher Women Eco Artists Dialog - WEAD