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fumes Art. Photography. Ideas.

fumes The Camera as a Microphone

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Rarely you find witty sharp humour, meaningful content and globally important issues all included into an artist work. Melinda Hegedus has definitely something to say. Her awesome illustrations offer a reflexion about relevant solutions for feeding the world.

She has the ability to craft simple ironic memes and the courage to speak out of the box, committing to the message instead of just to the art world.

We met for a chat on a Singapore hostel rooftop, in a dry night with breeze, and in our long talk she hit lots of interesting reason and motivation. Here are some extracts of the most significant points.

Fumes - The cow is not your mom

"These vegan themed illustrations are basically manifestations of all the thoughts that rush through my head every day, as I come across people consuming other sentient beings."

Fumes - The cow is not your mom

"Veganism appears to be a very controversial topic that provokes strong emotional response in people, so naturally I do get a lot of feedback of which approximately 10% is some harshly phrased criticism... The kind words always recharge me and enable me to go on and create more of these vegan themed illustrations."

Fumes - The cow is not your mom

"I love learning new things and I am really interested in psychology, in studying how people operate and in the universal principles that govern how behaviour is manifested in all living organisms."

Fumes - The cow is not your mom

"It is our human brain that tricks us into believing in this idea of separation when really nothing and nobody is truly separated."

Fumes - The cow is not your mom

"So I was sitting by the dinner table with my mom and her friend, and was holding on to a boney piece of lamb meat, just munching on it really, when I looked down to my lap and then suddenly something happened. I had a shift in my thinking, an epiphany might be the right word. I saw my own legs and the skin on them. I looked closer and thought about what is under my skin, my bones, flesh and muscle tissue... and boom! My mind made the connection. From that point on, eating any kind of meat seemed unnatural and absurd to me."

"My favourite vegan artist is definitely Dana Ellyn. She is incredibly talented and I find her art very very capturing. The facial expressions of the characters on her paintings just speak for themselves, there is no more need for words. Another inspiration is Ruby Roth, the author of the children's book "V is for vegan". One of the reasons why I really like her work is because she is able to approach this important issue with humour."

"I want to encourage fellow vegans to try to find their own creative voice for the animals... We are all talented in one way or another... you will find your own voice with which you can help raise awareness and advocate equality for all species on this planet."

Wanna know more about Melinda? Here are her links

All illustrations copyright © 2017 - 2022 Melinda Hegedus. Infos on copyright, licenses, Creative Commons
Released under CC_BY license.