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The Animals’ Vegan Manifesto
Sue Coe’s advocacy of animal rights is unmatched in its eloquence, forcefulness, and lasting impact. She does so with a combination of extraordinary images and few words. In her unstinting insistence on tolerance and love, Coe brings us to a life-affirming philosophy that values compassion over greed, community over self, and life over capital.
In 115 black-and-white woodcut illustrations for The Animals’ Vegan Manifesto, Sue Coe unleashes an outraged cry for action that takes its rightful place alongside the other great manifestoes of history. As a prize-winning artist, she bears witness to unspeakable crimes, and has long advocated that we human beings must take more responsibility for ourselves, our fellow species, and the planet. Her illustrations, in the tradition of Goya, Kollwitz, and Grosz, will be familiar to many; her paintings, drawings and prints have been exhibited in galleries and museum around the world, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
In 115 black-and-white woodcut illustrations for The Animals’ Vegan Manifesto, Sue Coe unleashes an outraged cry for action that takes its rightful place alongside the other great manifestoes of history. As a prize-winning artist, she bears witness to unspeakable crimes, and has long advocated that we human beings must take more responsibility for ourselves, our fellow species, and the planet. Her illustrations, in the tradition of Goya, Kollwitz, and Grosz, will be familiar to many; her paintings, drawings and prints have been exhibited in galleries and museum around the world, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
122 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2017
About the author
Sue Coe
32 books32 followersSue Coe grew up next to a slaughterhouse in Liverpool. She studied at the Royal College of Art in London and left for New York in 1972. Early in her career, she was featured in almost every issue of Art Spiegelman’s groundbreaking magazine Raw, and has since contributed illustrations to the New York Times, the New Yorker, The Nation, Entertainment Weekly, Time, Details, The Village Voice, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Esquire and Mother Jones, among other publications. Her previous books include Dead Meat (winner of the 1991 Genesis Award) and Cruel. Among her many awards are the Dickinson College Arts Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Caucus for Art, and a National Academy of Arts Award (2009).
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 11, 2021
"the beast sits on our doorstep, lies next to us in bed, hides inside our flesh. We are the nazis, there is no escaping it."
February 17, 2017
Often times words are not enough when I consider animal cruelty. Words fail me. No words describe animal exploitation. No words say how I feel. No words could possibly express how I imagine what the animals suffer.
This is when I turn to Sue Coe. To say her work is unique and special is to understate its ability to tell truths the world would rather not know. Now, we have her new book, The Animals’ Vegan Manifesto, to explore and inspire us further to act for social justice regardless of species.
“The beast sits on our doorstep, lies next to us in bed, hides inside our flesh. We are the Nazis. There is no escaping it. Nazi is a condition of humanity.”
This is one of two texts to read in The Animals’ Vegan Manifesto. (p. 4) We are now in the world as seen through the eyes of Sue Coe, the artist who prefers to be described as a visual journalist. This is a collection of more than 100 images “carved from the wood of wild cherry trees, the former homes of bears, squirrels and birds, cut down by the Millennium pipeline.”
The narrative begins with the depiction of animal exploitation, which sparks a revolution led by grassroots vegans, and ends with a vegan world where the animals enjoy their freedom.
To pick just two of the wood cuts to briefly describe. A male hunter dressed in paramilitary drag aims an automatic rifle at point blank range at a baby bird. In the background, hunters kill a rabbit and deer. (p.34) After the vegan revolution, birds fly in the sky, deer bound across the countryside, and fish jump with joy in the pond. (p. 103)
The second text (p. 119) is the “animals’ vegan manifesto to 2 leggeds” with six principles that conclude “from all of us, of fur, fin and feather… eat plants, not us, thank you.”
Since the 1984, I have followed Sue’s work when I first read about the controversy caused by her representation of Bobby Sands from the Provisional Irish Republican Army. He was on hunger strike in a Northern Ireland prison. Evidence that she is now recognised as an artist of significant importance, her portrait of Bobby Sands and other works are now held by the Renwick Gallery in the Smithsonian American Art Museum. This is one of many recognitions she deserves.
Her focus ranges across such social justice issues as sex workers, AIDS, animal rights, and capitalism. Regardless of whether you agree with her point of view or not, her perspective demands our attention and forces us to think. There’s no better place to start than with The Animals’ Vegan Manifesto.
To learn more about Sue Coe, visit Graphic Witness and Galerie St. Etienne.
This is when I turn to Sue Coe. To say her work is unique and special is to understate its ability to tell truths the world would rather not know. Now, we have her new book, The Animals’ Vegan Manifesto, to explore and inspire us further to act for social justice regardless of species.
“The beast sits on our doorstep, lies next to us in bed, hides inside our flesh. We are the Nazis. There is no escaping it. Nazi is a condition of humanity.”
This is one of two texts to read in The Animals’ Vegan Manifesto. (p. 4) We are now in the world as seen through the eyes of Sue Coe, the artist who prefers to be described as a visual journalist. This is a collection of more than 100 images “carved from the wood of wild cherry trees, the former homes of bears, squirrels and birds, cut down by the Millennium pipeline.”
The narrative begins with the depiction of animal exploitation, which sparks a revolution led by grassroots vegans, and ends with a vegan world where the animals enjoy their freedom.
To pick just two of the wood cuts to briefly describe. A male hunter dressed in paramilitary drag aims an automatic rifle at point blank range at a baby bird. In the background, hunters kill a rabbit and deer. (p.34) After the vegan revolution, birds fly in the sky, deer bound across the countryside, and fish jump with joy in the pond. (p. 103)
The second text (p. 119) is the “animals’ vegan manifesto to 2 leggeds” with six principles that conclude “from all of us, of fur, fin and feather… eat plants, not us, thank you.”
Since the 1984, I have followed Sue’s work when I first read about the controversy caused by her representation of Bobby Sands from the Provisional Irish Republican Army. He was on hunger strike in a Northern Ireland prison. Evidence that she is now recognised as an artist of significant importance, her portrait of Bobby Sands and other works are now held by the Renwick Gallery in the Smithsonian American Art Museum. This is one of many recognitions she deserves.
Her focus ranges across such social justice issues as sex workers, AIDS, animal rights, and capitalism. Regardless of whether you agree with her point of view or not, her perspective demands our attention and forces us to think. There’s no better place to start than with The Animals’ Vegan Manifesto.
To learn more about Sue Coe, visit Graphic Witness and Galerie St. Etienne.
March 23, 2017
Despite the petite dimensions, this is not a cuddly book with cute Disney animals. Instead we are presented with stark drawings, concentration camp metaphors, striped prisoner-animals, and the bleak declaration "Nazi is a condition of humanity." Not even "free-range" or "crate-free" animal eating gets a pass. "Eat veg not us" is their cry. The last part of the book (no spoiler here) depicts a possible hopeful future in VeganWorld. It's not quite Disney for our animal friends, at least not yet.
I received this book for free via Goodreads giveaway.
I received this book for free via Goodreads giveaway.
July 24, 2017
Beautiful wood cut art. Powerful images, some heartbreaking when you take in the content / intent, others hopeful and encouraging. This tiny book really packs a powerful punch for a world of no cruelty and slaughter, for a world unified in respect for all creatures. Even though there are almost no words in The Animals' Vegan Manifesto, the message is clear. And while this book was my first encounter with Sue Coe it will not be my last. Highly recommended.
November 4, 2017
Beautiful, powerful artwork.
January 12, 2017
This series of woodcut images provides a heartbreaking reminder that pigs, chickens, cows, turkeys, fish and others suffer immensely under our food system. Most haunting perhaps is the chicken desperately placing a cat mask over her wee chick's face. Now will you love me?
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews