The Rooster Project is an art project, a statement, a sanctuary, and much more.
While working toward my BFA in Studio Art, I wanted to create a project that would confront the way we categorize and discard life, especially in the systems of animal agriculture. I became fixated on one of the most overlooked victims in our food system: the rooster.
In the egg industry, roosters are seen as waste. They can’t lay eggs, so they are often culled immediately after hatching; ground, suffocated, or discarded by the billions. Even in small backyard flocks, roosters are frequently surrendered, abandoned, or killed once their crowing becomes a problem or they are seen as “aggressive.”
What started as a critical art intervention soon turned into a rescue mission that dealt with real, live animals. I began reaching out to locals, offering to take in roosters that were destined for culling or abandonment. One rooster became two, then five, then a flock. I built a rooster-only house, carefully designed to allow these birds, often seen as unmanageable, to live together in peace.
What I discovered is that roosters are not the problem; the system is. Given the right environment, they are social, expressive, intelligent, and capable of coexistence. They create strong relationships with their brothers and there is very clearly a lot of love and loyalty there.
The Rooster Project is now both a sanctuary and a living artwork. A space that challenges the assumptions we make about value, noise, aggression, and usefulness. It’s a site of resistance, care, and radical reimagining, where I am reminded, everyday, that these birds survived a world that was never built for them and I am lucky enough to be their caretaker.
The Rooster Project's mission is to: