An Expression of Compassion is a study of how humans should treat the animals that we coexist with and how we should tread lightly in the environment.
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The subjects of the artworks are mostly animals, but landscapes also feature in the exhibition which is a focus of the Ballarat Vegan Festival, which began on Saturday.
“The exhibition is I suppose an expression of kindness,” said festival founder Bryn Hills.
“It’s about veganism, about trying to do the least amount of harm possible as you can to the living environment, all animals and the environment.”
The exhibition encompasses about 35 compassion-inspired artworks ranging from photographs and watercolours to drawings and prints.
At its centre is the image Clayton and the Lamb from Ballarat-trained artist Alexandria Langley Hall, showing the compassion of a farmer and a frightened lamb.
And a collection of bright photographs from Kyle Behrend of the farm animals given a second chance Edgar’s Mission shows pictures of different species happily coexisting.
The exhibition is open every day of the festival in the backspace gallery, which will serve as a hub for the nine-day event.
Artists from around the region featured in the exhibition had responded to a call out seeking works of art with a central theme based on veganism, with an expression of compassion.
“Famous Australian philanthropist Philip Wollen reckons veganism is like the Swiss Army Knife of the 21st century – it addresses environmental concerns, health concerns, animal welfare concerns and social justice concerns,” Mr Hills said.
The eye-catching animal-based portraiture of An Expression of Compassion is the second art exhibition held as part of the Ballarat Vegan Festival, which this year marks its third year.
“If you look around the gallery there’s lots of pictures of animals and the living environment, all beautiful artworks,” Mr Hills said.
“The pictures of farm animals, it’s about seeing the normalness of happy and healthy chooks scratching around in the dirt doing chook stuff, which is what they should be doing and not hidden away 50,000 at a time inside factory farm sheds.”
Mr Hills said the sadness of some could be see in their eyes.
“When you are a kid you have an idea that farms are like (farm sanctuary) Edgar’s Mission but factory farms couldn’t be further from that – there are lots of horrible things we do to all types of animals.”
An Expression of Compassion is open at the Backspace Gallery until January 21.
