Jane O’Hara
Jane O’Hara lives in Providence, Rhode Island. CAF gave her a grant to produce an exhibition catalogue for a show of her paintings, entitled Beasts of Burden, a curated show of fourteen artists. This exhibition accompanied the Culture & Animals Foundation and Compassion Arts Festival, held in October 2017. Jane writes:
The support I received for this book made me able to give people a way to take home what I feel is this exhibition’s important message: to show how completely entwined animals are with our lives. The artists, with their varying focuses, mediums, and styles, reach the hearts and minds of viewers at differing levels of consciousness or places on the path to awareness of animals’ place in contemporary society. Thank you again, CAF, for this major vote of confidence and financial support. It was a rewarding process and I am so happy with the results. It is an amazing and unique thing CAF does with this grant. The viewers and consumers of the art projects that are the result of the grants benefit profoundly. I agree with the concept of supporting the arts as a vehicle for social change and animal advocacy and CAF’s belief in this is a huge service to our world, needing to open to compassion.
Since 2017, Jane has worked on a variety of new projects, including “State of the Union,” where she depicts what each state wishes to portray as their image, including their state animal and flag, but also highlights the hidden animal abuse that goes on in each state. An exhibition for all 50 completed states is scheduled for the New Bedford Art Museum, in Massachusetts in 2023. She also provided the cover art for 2017 CAF grantee Donald Vincent’s collection Vegan Paradise.
She also has worked with PETA on a painting featuring activist Regan Russell, who was killed by transport truck at a pig vigil at Fearman’s Slaughterhouse in Canada. Limited edition prints are available here, and all funds raised will carry out Regan’s legacy and to repeal “ag-gag” Bill 156.
In 2023, Jane completed her monumental, 50-painting series, “State of the Union.” In this video interview with 2023 Navab Fellow and fellow artist Gauri Kasarla, Jane talks about her distinctive artistic vision, the retro-postcard aesthetic she chose for the series, and her journey to becoming an animal rights artist.
