The Ordinary Society For Kindness to All Animals In The Art World (TOSKAAAW) is committed to engaging with and supporting those in the art world to be kinder to all animals. Animal exploitation and cruelty are too often normalised, while cognitive dissonance is homogenised or rarely addressed.
In the present day and common language, humans routinely set themselves apart from nature and apart from other animals. As if humans and nature were two unrelated entities and humans were not animals. Humans are frequently only describing one another as 'animals' when dehumanising the other. We want to gently remind our audience that animalhood and personhood are not mutually exclusive.
Humans are nature.
Humans are animals.
Animals are persons.
The Ordinary Society For Kindness to All Animals In The Art World is an independent and playful art project whose tenants are;
In the present day and common language, humans routinely set themselves apart from nature and apart from other animals. As if humans and nature were two unrelated entities and humans were not animals. Humans are frequently only describing one another as 'animals' when dehumanising the other. We want to gently remind our audience that animalhood and personhood are not mutually exclusive.
Humans are nature.
Humans are animals.
Animals are persons.
The Ordinary Society For Kindness to All Animals In The Art World is an independent and playful art project whose tenants are;
- All animal lives have value in themselves. These values are independent of the usefulness of the non-human world for human purposes - A deep ecology principle.
- Building a community of kind vegan artists and people working in the art world - including but not limited to writers, researchers, curators, directors, assistants, designers, and teachers - known as 'The Ordinary Society For Kindness to All Animals In The Art World' and listing the individual on The Society page of its website.
- Supporting all animals (human and non-human) and creating a charter which art institutions and commercial galleries could use to be kinder to all animals; this includes actions such as a plant-based menu only (which would also reduce CO2 emissions) and having wider inclusive community engagement programmes.
- Animal slaughter is a trigger to many. Helping those who are not sensitive to the suffering inflicted on fellow animals realise the pain it causes and be more mindful when selecting artworks and art materials.
- Building a community of 'Friends of The Ordinary Society For Kindness to All Animals In The Art World'. This community might not apply all the principles of the society, such as veganism, but acknowledges its
interest in the society's mission and wishes to implement at least some of its principles in its organisation or freelance work. The new action(s) Friends wish to implement can be pledged and listed on TOSKAAAW‘s webpage. For example, an action could be for an independent art publisher to pay all their published artists a fair % and only serve plant-based food for all their events. Sharing our friend's pledges with their consent allows them to hold themselves responsible and accountable.
- Creating a charter to support artists in making choices - to the best of their abilities - that do not involve using materials which are made as a direct result of animal exploitation.
- While The Ordinary Society For Kindness to All Animals In The Art World is against animal slaughter, it understands there are places and communities in the world where the consumption of flesh is a necessity to survive. However, it believes the vast majority of those ever reading these words are based in places, such as England, where the slaughter and consumption of fellow animals is entirely unnecessary.
- The Ordinary Society For Kindness to All Animals In The Art World believes that even age-old traditions can evolve towards kindness. What is inert is no longer alive; living traditions are in continuous flux. To all, and particularly, those who think humans are inherently selfish, let us create cultures that teach kindness. We need kindness today and tomorrow.
The Ordinary Society For Kindness to All Animals In The Art World (TOSKAAAW) was established as an art project by French-born artist Johanna Tagada Hoffbeck in England in 2024. It is open to growth and collaboration.
As The Gardening Drawing Club and Poetic Pastel Press (two initiatives by the artist), The Ordinary Society For Kindness to All Animals In The Art World supports seed sovereignty, racial, climate and land justice and reparation, biodiversity, as well as animal liberation. The Ordinary Society For Kindness to All Animals In The Art World stands against all forms of discrimination.
The Society is profoundly rooted in Vegan Ecofeminism, where veganism is more than capitalistic plant-based products.
For a better world, please say no to racism, discrimination, nukes, war, animal slaughter, pollution, sweatshops and all forms of oppression.
Colophon
Webpage by Johanna Tagada Hoffbeck via Cargo
Logo (SOON) by 75W Studio
Texts by Johanna Tagada Hoffbeck
Supported by Jatinder Singh Durhailay and Miriam Melake
Images via the archive of Wellcome Collection - Public Domain