Philip McCulloch-Downs
Somerset, UK
Phillip McCulloch-Downs is a featured artist in the Vegan Storyteller Gallery of Vegan ARTivists.
In 2014 Philip’s artwork entered the world of veganism and animal rights. His series of uncompromising paintings ‘Moving Pictures’ dignifies the animals we abuse and bears witness to their suffering by recording their experiences with accuracy, empathy and compassion. In addition to his vegan ARTivism, he also produces vibrantly colored and highly detailed pieces in ink and acrylic paint that celebrate the beauty and majesty of free-living wildlife.
Solving the world's problems on paper and canvas
Philip’s artistic bent dates back to the time when he enrolled at Leicester Polytechnic in 1989. He took an interest in cultures and creative disciplines and became extremely introspective while refining his practical skills. With a strong sense of ‘magical realism’ and spirituality, he tries to use his imagination to be kind and to solve the problems of the world on paper and canvas.
“Though some work was nihilistic and bleak, most was positive, colorful, exuberant, and theatrical. Almost everything I do is an attempt to make sense of a complex and unjust human world,” he said.
Whatever Philip pursued with his various art forms, the same underlying themes were present – that of recognizing the depressing realities of the world, coupled with a naïve desire to make them better. He was primed and ready to become an animal rights artivist, and, in August 2014, that’s precisely what happened.
Though some work was nihilistic and bleak, most was positive, colorful, exuberant, and theatrical. Almost everything I do is an attempt to make sense of a complex and unjust human world.
Becoming an ARTivist
Philip had written a book of short stories called All that Remains. The work of undercover investigators in the vegan movement inspired one of the stories in the book, titled The Ghost Camera. Philip illustrated the story with a portrait of Canadian photographer Jo-Anne McArthur, a leading light in animal rights activism. He emailed the painting to her as a surprise when he finished it.
From her home in Toronto, Jo-Anne responded to Philip’s email with both joy and sadness, as she recognized in his painting some of the animals she had saved from farms and factories, as well as some that she could not save and had to leave behind. The painting he created and the email exchange with Jo-Anne altered the course of his life instantly — literally overnight.
“Jo-Anne and I bonded over that experience. We have been online friends ever since,” Philip said.
Philip quickly began looking at art in a very different way, and felt the urgent necessity to create work with a clear purpose and message.
Philip wrote a book of short stories called All that Remains. The work of undercover investigators in the vegan movement inspired one of the stories in the book, titled The Ghost Camera. Philip illustrated the story with a portrait of Canadian photographer Jo-Anne McArthur, a leading light in animal rights activism. He emailed the painting to her as a surprise when he finished it. The experience changed his life literally overnight.
I found that I had a passion and aptitude for creating art for animal rights, helped immeasurably by the fact that I really do feel a great empathy for each and every one of the animals that I paint.
Duty-bound to make a difference
When his next painting Life Sentence: the invisible faces of dairy sold at a charity auction to a public Art Collection in Stuttgart, Germany, Philip quickly realized that he felt duty-bound to continue combining his artistic skills with his vegan ethics in an attempt to make a difference in the lives of animals.
And so – one dairy painting became six, and then came the pig paintings, and then the hen paintings, the turkeys, lobsters, goats, fish – and so on.
“I found that I had a passion and an aptitude for it, helped immeasurably by the fact that I really do feel a great empathy for each and every one of the animals that I paint,” Philip said.
I chose to paint whatever offended me – no matter how grotesque it was. The darker the subject matter, the more I wanted to bring it into the light.
Transforming obscenities into finely rendered portraits
Philip turns the evidence that investigators uncover into works of art, transforming photographs of truly vile obscenities into finely rendered portraits. Some of his work seems to be almost poetic in its depiction of the quiet dignity shown by farm animals in the midst of appalling degradation.
“I want these portraits of suffering to stand as an accusation leveled at the viewer, as a challenge to our barbaric farming methods, and as a memorial to the individual animals they portray,” he said.
When it’s successful, Philip believes the unusual discipline of activist art can be used to connect the viewer directly with the world as experienced by an animal.
“It can be a very personal and profound experience, if you allow it to be. I myself hate to look at some of my pictures, as they are so painful to see. People have said to me, ‘How do you do it?’ To that, the simple answer is, ‘controlled fury,'” he said.
Balancing the vile and the beautiful
“The best activist art I have seen is provocative, disturbing and truthful. It may seem a strange thing to say, but I feel that this artwork is also very positive – even the worst images. It’s a positive thing that it exists, and that the truth is now visible on social media, on clothing, on posters, on banners, and in art exhibitions. And it’s a positive thing that the vegan cause inspires artists from all over the world to create, educate, and stir the emotions,” Philip said.
Throughout the laborious days of drawing and painting, the anger at what Philip sees burns away at him inside. He takes the offensive and shows the unjust cruelty clearly and without censorship. He gets obsessed and is often haunted by the work he produces.
“It’s a genuine relief to release the pictures out into the world and let the mental burden go. I am in awe of activists who fight for animal rights all day, every day. We need people as dedicated and strong as them, but I simply couldn’t bear it,” he said.
Philip is aware of his mental limits. It’s the reason he also now paints positive imagery celebrating the natural beauty of wild animals. It helps him restore some sense of balance.
There are sane, kind, active people everywhere. I'm very proud to have found a way to take my place in this eclectic mixture of activists. I hope by contributing to the vegan cause with my artwork that I can help to encourage even more people to join us on our collective journey towards a more compassionate world.
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