Sade Kahra 14.2.-9.3. 2003

Curriculum Vitae (.pdf)
www.kahra.nu

THE COW – photographs of the life of the cow

All the works featured in my exhibition were photographed in 1999 at a cattle farm in Ostrobothnia, Finland and completed in 2003. The photographs are influenced by paintings and aesthetic imagery. The colour photographs in wooden frames were made with retouch colours and given a matt varnish finish. It could therefore be said that they reflect the photographer’s rediscovery of the world of crafts.

For us humans, the greatest significance of a dairy cow is related to insemination, breeding and nursing. The cow is an eternal virgin in people’s eyes, an artificially inseminated breeding machine, deprived of its calves and machine-milked. People disturb a cow’s natural life in many ways.

On the other hand, the cow symbolises fertility, reliability and goodness as well as feminine, absolute motherhood. Yet a cow is also flesh and blood, not only as a producer of beef or leather products but also as a potentially dangerous adversary for humans. What if a cow suddenly decided to use, or realise it had, this carnal strength? Why else would cows have horns? The many roles of the cow as both a domestic farm animal and a potential wild animal are symbolic of the world we humans live in.

The photographs are titled after cows entered into the cattle register.

Sade Kahra
Translation: Käännös-Aazet Oy

 

Pimu, 2003 chromogenic color print retouch color, ink, varnish, wooden frame 70 x 87 cm, unique	Afrodite & Aavemaria I, 2003 chromogenic color print retouch color, varnish, wooden frame 70 x 87 cm, uniiikki
Ystävä, 2003 chromogenic color print retouch color, varnish, wooden frame 70 x 87 cm, unique	Ailavjuu, 2003 chromogenic color print retouch color, varnish, wooden frame 70 x 70 cm, unique
Afrodite 2003 chromogenic color print retouch color, varnish, wooden frame 70 x 82 cm, unique	Alku, 2003 chromogenic color print retouch color, varnish, wooden frame 70 x 87 cm, unique
Beibi & Nuppu 2003 chromogenic color print retouch color, varnish, wooden frame 70 x 87 cm, unique	Aavemaria, 2003 chromogenic color print retouch color, acrylic, varnish, wooden frame 70 x 70 cm, unique
Alaston, 2003 chromogenic color print retouch color, varnish, wooden frame 70 x 56 cm, unique	Afrodite & Aavemaria II, 2003 chromogenic color print retouch color, ink, varnish, wooden frame 70 x 87 cm, unique
Neito, 2003 chromogenic color print retouch color, varnish, wooden frame 70 x 56 cm, unique   Enlarge by clicking the image. Press images are available at the gallery.