Pig Improvement
During the pandemic I had to make a trip to the tip. Social distancing meant very long queues. I waited for the couple of hours to get my turn and preceded to start unloading the detritus from home DIY projects. With the last few bags of non-specific general waste launched into the skip I looked down to see a folder nestled amonst the black bags. An old ring binder with illustrated pink pigs and some text in a font that looked retro. As I leaned over into the skip to retrieve it I found the text read “Pig Improvement Company”. The photographs inside showed a collection of farms in Kentucky and Wisconsin with men in white boiler suits checking for back quality. I looked back into the tip and saw a large heap of filing cabinet slide holders full of tatty cardbord framed slides. They were out of reach so with a large piece of polystyrene and a quick check for the proximity of the tip men I leant over and reached out for them. Horizintal with legs off ground I looked like a bad snooker player pushing his luck. I managed to catch hold of an edge with the polystyrene and slowly pulled the slides towards me but with each pull slides would fall, lost forever. I managed to get hold of as many as I could and extricate myself back to a vertical position. Holding the slides up to the light I glowed with euphoria. At this point I felt the weight of someone staring at the side of my head. I looked around to see a man looking at me as if I were a bit strange. “Look at these!” I say, “it says pig improvement company”, with a smile on my face. “Yes, I know” he says, “they were my father in laws”.
The images show Pig Improvement Company’s promotional materials but also the snap shots of a franchise owner travelling the world with the quest of species improvement.