Back in college, I worked as a barista for a local coffee shop. One afternoon, a co-worker who also worked part-time at a slaughterhouse, came on shift particularly frazzled and stressed out. When we asked why, she explained how earlier that morning, she stunned and slaughtered her first cow. We all had our reactions of course, and the slaughterhouse girl said matter-of-factly, “Where do you think your meat comes from?” Another co-worker replied, “We just get our meat from the supermarket.”

Yesterday, Mike, Steve, Sean and I went to Banksy’s new installation show in the West Village, The Village Petstore and Charcoal Grill. Unless you are a die-hard Banksy fan, it is almost impossible to know that the work has been done by Banksy. There wasn’t a single painting or graffiti piece in the entire show. The only indications of a Banksy show taking place were these huge rat billboards that had been put up around the city a few weeks earlier. An employee of the petstore was nice enough to write out a list of all the locations around the city where the billboards can be found.

Banksy’s use of animatronics were subtle; clearly the animals in the window displays are fake, but instead of spinning in circles or waving at you like a santa on crack, the movements are slight and insignificant, much in the same way a caged animal would behave. My favorite of the window displays was the pretty little bunny rabbit wearing a pearl necklace, filing her nails and staring into a vanity mirror with globs of blush and lipstick on. I couldn’t think of a better way to demonstrate the blatant disconnect between people and understanding where the products they consume on a daily basis actually come from.

Inside the pet store were more animals on display, including a caged chimp watching two chimps go at it on the Discovery channel, an old and weathered Tweety bird swinging pathetically in his bird cage and various meats in reptile tanks.

One spectator remarked how “disgusting” the wiggling, sweating and worm-like sausages were but I found the actual packages of sliced cold cuts hanging next to the aquariums much more disgusting.

The show was entertaining and easy to digest, so to speak. The best part for me was standing outside and watching people’s reactions. Since the show is still fairly new, most happen upon it by chance and are curious as to why there are seemingly real chickens feeding next to little “chick” chicken nuggets. Hey, at least now I know where my meat comes from.

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