Tamara Ryzhenko
CAF awarded Ukrainian artist, activist, and writer Tamara Ryzhenko a grant for a “Calf Named Tina,” a series of comics about a calf—in Ukrainian, veal is telyatina and calf telya—who is shipped to the slaughterhouse, escapes, and finds shelter at an animal sanctuary. “A Calf Named Tina” seeks to address the ignorance that many people choose to display over where their food comes from, particularly in the dairy industry, and how our daily decisions on whom or what we eat or drink impact many creatures.
“A Calf Named Tina” can be viewed as an Instagram story and on Facebook. Tamara also created cartoons for the book that can be watched on Instagram and Tiktok. To further publicize “Calf Named Tina,” she translated the comments on the book into English, and printed the comics and distributed them at offline events in Ukraine.
Tamara leads Every Animal, a vegan animal rights organization in Ukraine dedicated to spreading the vegan message and consolidating the vegan movement. Currently, the organization provides vegan food to civilians and soldiers who are vegan and want to stay true to their principles despite the challenges of the war. Tamara lives in Kyiv.
Tamara was interviewed on the Our Hen House podcast (September 3, 2022). Listen to it here.
