Growing up with chickens for pets, I am always very attracted to their presence. Visiting an old farm in Utrecht I found out the chickens living there were it’s oldest inhabitants. When the previous farmer passed, they lived there on their own for years before a new group of people inhabited the farm and started caring for them again.
This somehow seemed magical to me, however I was the only one who felt this way, most people just found them annoying or wanted to eat them.
This to me started a research into the history of rituals and symbols surrounding the chicken. In the middle ages people buried a chicken under the door post for good luck. When a ghost was believed to inhabit a property, a chicken would be built in to the hearth, because the powers it possessed would get rid of the ghosts.
Roosters begin and end the day very clearly, making them a christian symbol for the beginning and the end, therefore a symbol for God.
All these, and more, rituals an symbolisms have vanished from our western world, and these animals have lost all respect people once had for them. By portraying them looking mighty and creating a daunting atmosphere I hope to make people think twice before ordering their next batch of chicken nuggets.