Philip McCulloch-Downs

Philip McCulloch-Downs

Animal Rights Artist

Philip is a vegan artist based in Somerset in the UK. He has spent all his adult life exploring and refining his creative skills and has learned how to process the varied experiences of everyday life through his art, video-making, novels and poetry. This body of work is continuously evolving and entirely personal, forming a visual diary of his life.


Since 2014 his artwork has entered the world of veganism and animal rights. His series of uncompromising paintings ‘Moving Pictures’ attempt to dignify the creatures we abuse and to bear witness to their suffering by recording it with accuracy, empathy and compassion. He also produces vibrantly coloured and highly detailed pieces in ink and acrylic paint that celebrate the beauty and majesty of free-living wildlife.


He was one of the very first members of the worldwide collective ‘The Art of Compassion Project’ and has exhibited his art prints with that group at Vegfests and vegan events all over the world, including the International Animal Rights Conference in Luxembourg. In 2020, he and fellow AOCP artist Helen Barker created the online gallery ‘Agitate Art’ on Youtube, as a showcase for all forms of ‘Protest Art’.

 

Saturday April 25th 11am - 6pm
4.30pm

Art For Change - The Role of Protest Art as an Act of Solidarity with our Fellow Animals

Art For Change – The Role of Protest Art as an Act of Solidarity with our Fellow Animals – Helen Barker & Phillip McCulloch-Downs – Art Of Compassion Project
We discuss how protest art has always been an effective and vital tool in the fight for cultural, social and political change. Using examples of art activism, which has been used in social justice movements for centuries, we examine its historical use as a tool of dissent, and its vital importance in working to counter mainstream rhetoric and for standing in solidarity with the oppressed.
We examine the visual culture which has informed the dominant worldview of society’s relationships with other than human animals. Sharing insights, learned from years working as artists for liberation, we suggest how activists and organisers can use art as a significant part of their fight to dismantle societal norms and harmful narratives around animal use.
We address the challenges of making ‘art for animals’, and outline how our movement can use creativity, in all its forms, to resist and subvert those cultural norms. We especially highlight the importance of how our work needs to amplify our fellow animals’ own voices, as it positively creates a vision for a better world for all.

Talks Room 2 - Animal Rights & Activism full timetable

Sunday
12.00pm

Art as Activism for Social Change

We will introduce the audience to The Art Of Compassion Project, an international collective of vegan artists using creativity to raise awareness of animal rights issues. We will discuss the historical importance of art as a tool for social and political change, and examine its use as a significant part of the fight to dismantle both the societal norms and the harmful narratives of mainstream media around our use of other animals.

 

 

Performance Stage full timetable