New York City-based visual artist Catherine Chalmers’ latest series ‘Food Chain’ is an unflinching look at the circle of life.
Featuring photographs of animals eating their prey, it starts off innocently enough with a caterpillar feasting on a tomato before moving on to a praying mantis devouring a caterpillar, and then a toad eating a praying mantis.
In an interview with Vice, Chalmers said the project was borne out of her desire “to be more engaged with the natural world.”
The photographer admitted that the prospect of rearing animals specifically to photograph them eating one another was horrifying at first, but the more she thought about the series, the more she realized it was its disturbing nature that made it so powerful.
For each picture, Chalmers placed each predator next to its prey and captured the inevitable results.
The most time-consuming part of the project wasn’t shooting the scenes, but raising, feeding and cleaning up after the animals and plants.
Aside from portraying the stark brutality of the animal kingdom, ‘Food Chain’ acts as a companion piece to her other series ‘Pinkies’, which has a similar concept.
Due to the animal deaths incurred, Chalmers has received hate mail and even been threatened at a book signing, though they were by lone individuals and not animal rights organizations.
Ultimately, she hopes her work will make people more aware of the reality of the ecosystem, and of our relationship with animals.
Check out more animal-eat-animal photographs below.
[via Vice, images via Catherine Chalmers]