Furocious by Krishna Chavda

 

“As an observer and recorder of people, places and things, I am a freelance illustrator who specializes in reportage illustration. While my illustrations are snapshots capturing anything from exotic places to everyday life, my sketchbooks are a drawn diary.  The posters I create address everything from concerts, to cultural events, to social and environmental issues. Awareness illustrations, especially those about the environment and wildlife, are particularly exciting to design because the subject matters themselves are hot topics of discussion.  Having grown up in Tanzania, I went on many safaris as a child, which instilled in me a love for nature and animals.  I was aware of poaching and its negative effects on animal populations.  It disgusted me that people bought zebra skins to use as rugs in their living rooms.  While I was quite informed about poaching in the wild, I knew little about the atrocities involving the fur industry until I started researching the topic to create a poster for the Design Against Fur competition sponsored by The Fur Free Alliance.  I knew wearing or owning fur was morally wrong, but I did not know why exactly.  I realized during my research that these animals were not just being poached in the wild for their furs but farmed in appalling conditions only to be slaughtered and turn into someone’s coat, hat, and muffler.  What shocked me was the sheer number of animals it takes to make one coat, the bloody history of each item, and the fact that people actually wear furs regardless of whether they do care about its origins or are just ignorant of the industry’s practices.  This is what prompted the design for my anti-fur poster “Furocious.”

To view more of Krishna’s work, visit www.nanuchavda.com.