Pig 05049

Pig 05049 is the result of a three-year study during which Rotterdam-based Christien Meindertsma tracked all 185 products made from 05049, a pig she selected at random from a commercial farm in the Netherlands. While the book includes expected food products like bacon, pork rinds, and sausage, Meinderstma’s book illustrates numerous items less commonly known to be made from pigs, including pharmaceutical tablets, X-ray film, insulin, antifreeze, heart valves, paper, cigarettes, and even the glue that binds the pages of the book. While neither a call to arms nor an activist manifesto, the work uses the life of a single animal to critically explore the complexity of the meat-processing industry and the relationship between man and livestock. Ultimately, it forces a greater consideration of the resources required to make products and how we treat and use them.