Growing up in a small town in Texas, I dreamed of living on a farm, surrounded by animals and fields. Many decades and life changes later, I discovered that my fantasy farm was actually just up the road from my home in the western suburbs of Boston. When I saw the fields, the weathered red barns and all the chickens, pigs, cows and llamas, I knew this was my chance to capture the unique images of my childhood dreams.
Visiting the farm many times led to strong attachments with the animals, and I spent many happy hours in their company. I was fascinated by fine details often missed or dismissed. I found beauty in dirty faces, drooling lips and upturned snouts. My goal was to capture their unique personalities and human-like qualities — their curiosity, their sense of humor, their wish for affection, and their overpowering appetites.
The four years spent observing and interacting with this environment enriched my understanding of and affection for farm animals and heightened my awareness of the cruelty with which they are treated by the factory farm industry. My goal is that sharing these portraits with the world will lead to a new awareness of farm animals as intelligent, sentient beings very much like our pets and thus result in more humane treatment of these beautiful creatures.
Bio:
Judy Brown follows a career as Professor of Physics at Wellesley College and Research Scientist at the MIT Media Lab by combining her long-time passions for animals and photography. She is particularly attracted to animal subjects – fur, hair, and feathers – for their subtle textures (often hidden from the naked eye) and for their beauty of form. She loves spending time with farm animals, getting to know their individual behavioral quirks. Her “Elliott” portfolio of a spirited pony in his stall was given a number of solo shows including two in Griffin Museum of Photography satellite galleries and an MIT Architecture Department Tele-exhibit. Several images from the portfolio “Far from the Madding Crowd” were shown in a two person show at the Griffin Museum Satellite gallery, SOWA, Boston in the spring of 2017. A number of libraries have hosted solo shows of her farm animals. Selections from her “Antique Skin”, “Elliott”, Weatherbury Farm”, and “Unity Farm Sanctuary” portfolios have been included in over four dozen juried exhibitions. She is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and a 2019 Critical Mass 200 Finalist.
To receive a book please go to Judy’s Website here
Donate $35 – or more – to one of the animal charities listed, OR one of your choice.
Send Judy the payment receipt. And she’ll send you a book!
How wonderful is that?
I am very grateful to Meg Birnbaum, Amanda Smith, Elizabeth Avedon, and Emily Belz for heroic and invaluable input and help with design, editing, and sequencing.
