Nest: Rescued Chickens at Home

How do we decide which animals are family and which are food? Why are we surprised to see a rooster gazing out the kitchen window or a hen investigating the refrigerator? After all, chickens are present in many homes, as flesh and eggs, but not as individuals with personalities of their own. In early 2017, I met a hen suffering from reproductive illness at the Wild Bird Fund in New York City, where I volunteered as a caregiver. During my search to find a permanent home for the hen after she was discharged from the Fund’s clinic, I discovered a network of people (primarily women) who turn their homes into sanctuaries for rescued chickens. I decided to make portraits of the chickens and their rescuers to honour both the birds who had suffered so much before their rescue and the people who invested so much love, time, and money caring for them. The German fine art book publisher Kehrer Verlag has published my book of portraits of chickens and their rescuers. Portraits from this series won the People's Choice Award in the 2018 edition of "The Fence", a 9-city outdoor photo exhibition. At least $20 from each book sale is donated to individual rescuers or rescue organizations, including The Microsanctuary Resource Center, which provides grants to cover the cost of chickens' reproductive health care.