Picture of the project Kyr eg har møtt og likt by Tonje Froastad

Kyr eg har møtt og likt

Project by Tonje Froastad

In what ways can illustration and colors be used in the built environment of farmed animals to affect human perception, relation, and attitude towards them?

Cows I Have Met and Liked is a project exploring what values illustration and colors can have as an integrated part of our surroundings. The project has largely been shaped during the process. It started at the Children and Youth Clinic at Haukeland Hospital and ended up in a cowshed. The main focus of the project has been on how our surroundings affect the way we perceive and treat other people around us. Can the surroundings of farmed animals—animals that many people have developed a more distanced relationship with over time—affect the way we perceive them? In Norway today only 3% of farmed animals experience the outside world during their lifetime. This does not only limit their ability for natural behavior, but it also contributes to making them invisible to consumers and society in general. With so few animals outside, Tonje wishes that this project invites people in to meet animals, farmers, and the industry and to illuminate the reality of how farmed animals are kept today.

Who is Tonje?

Tonje is an illustrator, designer, and color enthusiast. During the last two years, she has discovered an interest in using illustration in spatial design. She is particularly interested in the site-specific, to listen to — and why we should listen to — our surroundings and the beings within it when we design. Her passion for illustration starts with the pure joy of the craft, of creating and developing a language that can be used to tell stories, and to speak up about the things that matter to her.

Portrait picture of Tonje Froastad