Tamara Kenneally - Born To Die (The Life of a Broiler Chicken)

Tamara Kenneally is an animal photographer whose interests in animal behaviour, animal rights, and animal welfare influence her work. Due to her background in film photography, she barely edits her images, and uses natural lighting as she believes that animals do not belong in the studio. 

"The beauty of animals captivates me.
Their truth, instinct and innocence grounds me.
All I ever wanted to do was to be surrounded by animals, they tell you exactly who they are through their eyes and their behaviour.
Humans create so much pain for so many animals and without a voice they can’t tell their stories. I try to speak for them through my images.
I produce bodies of work which look at animal issues whilst also portraying the beauty of the animal.
I like to represent my subjects as the individual souls and personalities they are.
All animals are worthy of a happy, enriched life. All of them. The dog chained up in the backyard. The chicken at the factory farm. The bird in the cage. The tiger at the zoo.The pig in the sow stall. All of them." - artist statement

Tamara's stance on animals rights highly influences her series Born to Die (The Life of a Broiler Chicken). Amongst her images there is text explaining the difficult short lives that broiler chickens have (they are left in a shed to their own devices, it becomes too packed as they get older, they can die of respiratory disorders from breathing in the air which is polluted with their waste, they are selectively bred to grow into the size of an adult chicken by 5 weeks of age, which is when they are killed).

"Broiler chickens have a very special place in my heart. I’ve found them to be gentle, sweet individuals who create loving and emotional bonds with their friends and the people who care for them. They grieve deeply for their best friends and find comfort in a human who protects and nutures them. To rescue broiler chickens from their fate is a rewarding, yet also heartbreaking undertaking. To see these lovely chickens enjoying the sun on their faces, eating grass and dust bathing is a pure joy. But, to see them struggle with their enormous weight and know that one day soon you will loose them  due to their massive bodies and all the health problems that go along with that can often be a heavy burden on your heart. Taking on broiler chickens, you need to know that one day very soon you’ll be burying them because of their genetic problems. To be able to bury a broiler chicken with respect in their favourite spot in the garden is always so difficult, not only because you’ve lost a very important family member, but also because you know about the billions and billions and billions of other innocent and sweet individuals who never get the chance to be buried. Their bodies are eaten instead of being laid to rest."

The project is a work in progress, and features thousands of chickens between the ages of 0-7 weeks old. Tamara mostly shoots in colour, but believes that this project is deserving of black and white, as it "symbolises the lack of colour in these chickens short lives". 

Tamara's affection for chickens is very clear through her use of close up, almost "chicken portraits". Her work is anthropomorphic, some of the closer shots seem to make the chickens look sad, hopeless, and depressed, ultimately making the viewer feel for the them. As well as this, she also captures the conditions in which the chickens are forced to live their lives, the chickens stretch on for seemingly miles, with artificial light being the only light source they will ever experience.