Man and horse have a long history together. In the beginning, horses were working animals used as a means of transportation in agriculture and warfare. Nowadays, horses are considered pets with a moral status; they are used for recreation, in competitions, and for medical therapy. A less documented part of this history is the role of horses as food. In 1948, Peeters' grandfather started a business in what many now consider taboo: horse meat. At that time, people were poor, recovering from World War II, and there was a high demand for horse meat, a high-quality product at an affordable price. Starting with the family business, Peeters explored the horse (meat) culture worldwide, navigating from breeders, competitions, and rescue centers to slaughterhouses, factories, and butchers.

PHOTOGRAPHER	Heleen Peeters
TITLE	Horse
YEAR	2020
FINISH	Softcover
PUBLISHER	The Eriskay Connection
ISBN	978-94-92054-56-1
FORMAT	200 x 305 cm
PAGES
LANGUAGE
SIGNED	Dutch

The work of Heleen Peeters teeters on the edge of documentary and autonomous art. She doesn't see photography as a singular window to reality but as a reality with interpretation. In her projects, she often combines her voice as an author with multiple perspectives - those of the subject, the public media, or other artists - and allows them to interact with each other. By editing and processing all these materials, a new fictional space for imagination is created. As for the choice of subjects, Peeters draws inspiration from her fascination with existentialism - themes like existence and impermanence consistently thread through her series. She views photography as the quintessential medium to address these themes: it creates permanent documents that reveal the ever-changing world.

Horse - Heleen Peeters