Artist Karen Fiorito Addresses Zoonotic Diseases

Zoonotic diseases are diseases that spread from animals to humans. They include familiar ones, such as the common cold, influenza (flu), polio, AIDS, measles, and other lesser-known ones, such as SARS, MERS, Nipah virus and Ebola. Most recently, Covid-19 has joined this growing list, having jumped from bats or other wild animals, to humans, leading to the current pandemic. It is long past time to spread awareness of this, and how it can be stopped.

Los Angeles-based artist and activist Karen Fiorito designs billboards – which she uses along with social media and interactive websites - to educate the public and to create debate and awareness about important issues concerning the future of our planet. She has been using billboards in her art since 2004, with her 'Dear America' billboard criticizing the Bush administration's war in Iraq. Since then, she has had 10 designs in 34 different locations and formats, including Cape Town, South Africa.

There are over 200 zoonotic diseases, and 56 of them affect 2.5 billion people and cause nearly three million deaths every year. To put these figures into perspective: in 2017, traffic accidents caused 1.24 million deaths, and diabetes caused 1.37 million deaths globally. So, regular, non-pandemic zoonoses cause far more harm than all traffic and diabetes fatalities around the world, combined.

Zoonotic diseases are emerging with increasing frequency, and three out of every four new ones come from animals. Covid-19 has caused a huge number of deaths across the globe and has focused the world’s attention on how our mistreatment of wild and farmed animals has resulted in dire consequences to our health. Yet, much of the media’s focus has been on the effects of Covid-19, and not the causes.

We have literally eaten our way to zoonoses. Today, livestock accounts for 60% of all mammal biomass on the planet (with wild mammals accounting for only 4%, and most of the rest attributed to humans,) while poultry accounts for 70% of bird biomass, marking a major human-made transformation in the species composition of our planet. Genetically modified to grow massively large while still babies, animals are confined by the thousands in cramped cages and sordid sheds, fed GMO corn and soy, and injected with medically important antibiotics to keep them alive just long enough to kill them. Suffering from respiratory disease and impaired immune systems, they are the perfect incubators for pathogens to mutate and spill over to humans. In factory farms, we are creating monster zoonotic viruses that threaten our very survival.

It’s time to acknowledge the essential truth: This isn’t our first pandemic, and it won’t be our last.
COVID-19 and other pandemics are caused by animal agriculture and our reckless exploitation of the natural world. Not only might future outbreaks be more dangerous, experts agree that they are also expected to become more frequent. The potential causes behind this alarming forecast are human-made, and the most central human activities in this context are all related to our global food system.

In order to educate the public about this important issue, artist Karen Fiorito has designed a “Know Your Zoonoses” billboard to be installed at 10 locations across the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles on April 19, 2021, just in time for Earth Day. These billboards were made possible by a grant from the Puffin Foundation and information supplied by the UK vegan charity Viva!
Design by Karen Fiorito:

About Karen Fiorito: Karen Fiorito is an activist, artist and curator residing in California. Her artwork has been exhibited internationally and featured in major publications such as Art in America, Hyperallergic, Art Forum, and ArtNews, and featured in such books as American Women Artists in Wartime, Paper Politics: Socially Engaged Printmaking Today, and The Design of Dissent. Fiorito has received grants from Change, Inc., the Puffin Foundation, the Pollination Project, A Well Fed World, and LUSH Cosmetics for her public art projects. Her current public billboard project, 'Got Drought?' has been touring the U.S. since 2015 (www.gotdrought.info). She is also noted for her controversial ‘Trumpocalypse’ billboard in downtown Phoenix (2017) which gained international media attention. She holds a M.F.A. from Arizona State University and a B.F.A. form the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and is on the Board of the Los Angeles Printmaking Society. She has curated many art exhibitions, including Evolution/Revolution: The Interconnectedness of All Beings (2011), and Indivisible: United We Stand, Divided We Fall (2020). karenfiorito.me

About Viva!: Viva! is the UK’s leading vegan campaigning charity, specializing in undercover investigations and high-profile animal campaigns. Founded in 1994 by Juliet Gellatley, they have spent more than 25 years creating a kinder, more sustainable world for humans and animals alike. viva.org.uk

About The Puffin Foundation: The Puffin Foundation Ltd. has sought to open the doors of artistic expression by providing grants to artists and art organizations who are often excluded from mainstream opportunities due to their race, gender, or social philosophy. puffinfoundation.org

The poster-sized billboards can be viewed at the following locations from 4/19 - 5/16/21:

COLORADO BL South Lane 99 Feet West OF GLEN IRIS AVE - East Facing
EAGLE ROCK BL West Lane 32 Feet South OF LANGDALE AV - South Facing
FLETCHER DR North L 260 Feet East OF WELDON AVE - South Facing
YORK BLVD South Lane 150 Feet East OF VERDUGO RD - West Facing
FLETCHER DR North Lane 184 Feet E OF ANDRITA ST - East Facing
FLETCHER DR North Lane 184 Feet E OF ANDRITA ST - West Facing
YORK BLVD North Lane 15 Feet East OF AVE 53 - West Facing
YORK BLVD North Lane 125 Feet West OF VERDUGO RD - East Facing
YORK BLVD North Lane 125 Feet West OF VERDUGO RD - West Facing
YORK BLVD North Lane 80 Feet West OF AVE 57 - East Facing