What is seeping out from that red barn.

Back Country compromises an institution of america’s false pastoral history. The red barn, a lovely polite structure, decorates the products of american consumption, singing the lost ballad of family-owned industry. In Back Country, the image of the red barn is posited as essential to the continuation of the american project as the flag itself. And like the flag in times of crises, the barn is upended.

Beef tallow is the byproduct of the predatory and voracious meat industry, responsible for climate disasters, biohazardous waste, and disease. When fat from the meat is rendered, and cleaned, it can be used to create balms and soaps. Historically, beef tallow has been reclaimed and used to create products we are otherwise expected to purchase. This is what seeps from the barn, the product that compromises a capitalist cycle of waste and consumption. 

As I started making work about the american project, I began to see the “many” as cattle, and the “few” as tools used to control and prod. The beef tallow, allegorically, reflects the treatment of the “many” seeping out from the red barn. 

Back Country is the red american red barn. Constructing an image so deeply in my mind from childhood brought the architecture further from reality, creating a symbol of the american pastoral. Despite all of this, I still find it incredibly beautiful.