For the Hog Killing, 1979 by Tanya Amyx Berry

Author:Tanya Amyx Berry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2019-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

FOR THE HOG KILLING

Let them stand still for the bullet, and stare the shooter in the eye,

let them die while the sound of the shot is in the air, let them die as they fall,

let the jugular blood spring hot to the knife, let its freshet be full,

let this day begin again the change of hogs into people, not the other way around,

for today we celebrate again our lives’ wedding with the world,

for by our hunger, by this provisioning, we renew the bond.

Wendell Berry, New Collected Poems, 2012

ARTIST STATEMENT

In the fall of 1979 my husband, my son, and I participated in our annual hog killing, working with our friends and neighbors as we had done for many years. Our work gave us food that we had prepared to our taste for the coming year. And we never had such good ham again.

The difference that year was that I took photographs to document the event. I had been doing photography in a serious way for some time, and I felt this two-day time of work was a worthy subject. So my participation changed from one form of art to another. Now I was framing in still images the hard and skilled work that was being accomplished. My friends and neighbors (and family) allowed me the pleasure and honor of looking at them and the place through a viewfinder. They were gracious, entering into our dance with trust and even amusement. I am still grateful to each one of them.

This book exists only because my granddaughter Virginia and her husband, Ben Aguilar, honored the photographs enough to prepare and exhibit them at the Berry Center. I am honored by their care and work on the project.

Tanya Amyx Berry

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