Chicago TV news channel WGN9 featured the COCKS book and the short film made by filmmakers AnotherBeautifulStory on their Morning News segment. Video here! http://goo.gl/Zd5X1k

The COCKS book showcased in The Observer UK.

The Observer | 06.04.14 | 

These chickens certainly know how to strut their stuff, displaying ornate plumage as they strike bizarre and impressive poses. But these are only recent traits that have been selectively bred by humans within the last 50 years. Chickens are thought to have been domesticated around 7,000 years ago in south-east Asia. It was Charles Darwin who first suggested the red jungle fowl as the wild progenitor, but some experts now think there may have been multiple domestication events with differing species of wild fowl. The original purpose for domestication is thought to have been for the spectator sport of chicken fighting rather than cooking. It wasn’t until the Egyptians got their hands on them around 4,000 years ago that chickens started to become a food source, but they were still revered and mainly used for fighting. The Romans believed that chickens were in direct communication with Fate, and battles were often fought on a cock’s prophecy. This didn’t not stop them seeing chicken as a delicacy (or from inventing the omelette). Only in recent times have chickens become a major protein staple; 50bn are now raised annually.

It was a different side of the birds that intrigued Singaporean photographer Ernest Goh. While travelling in Malaysia, he discovered Ayam Serama chickens, and the unusual world of chicken beauty pageants. He explains: “Ayam Seramas are actually a type of ornamental chicken, so they are bred not for consumption, but purely for ornamental reasons.” Every week there is at least one  pageant in Malaysia, where birds are judged not just on how they look, but also on how they walk. While Goh’s photos in Cocks: The Chicken Book look staged or forced, he is simply photographing them as they move about naturally. They’re the original funky chickens.

– Josh Davis

Charismatic chickens strut their stuff

Think you know chickens? Ernest Goh wants you to take another look.

The photographer was struck by the birds’ natural charisma when he recently took portraits of them in Malaysia.

“If you look really closely or you just take more time to observe the chickens, you can see human qualities surface: temperament, facial expressions,” Goh said.

Many of these chickens are actually pageant contestants, raised as pets and entered into competitions across different villages in Malaysia. Judges inspect each chicken and choose winners based on their physical assets but also their strut and their showmanship.

And these birds can definitely show off.

“When they went on the stage, they looked like runway models,” Goh recalls. “Once they know they’re on stage, they automatically perform in a way. They puff up their chests, strut a little bit more. They’re not trained to do this by their farmers. I think it might be something engrained in their DNA.”

Perhaps the most popular breed in Malaysia is the Serama. It’s the smallest breed of chicken in the world, but it packs plenty of personality. Goh says that personality comes out in the portraits.

“I’ve had people say, ‘Wow, they actually have expressions,’ ” he said. “People perceive them as something different. They see them as something more emotional, an animal with a soul.”

The Serama, with its oversized breast, large plumage and bright red comb at the top of its head, was named after Rama, the title of kings in Thailand. It has become especially popular in the past decade, Goh said, and Serama breeding clubs have even emerged in the United States and European countries.

But the breed originated in Malaysia, through the crossbreeding of Japanese and Malaysian bantams, and it has almost become a new icon for the country, Goh said.

After watching the brilliantly colored birds perform in beauty contests, Goh asked farmers if they would bring the birds in for a photo shoot.

When the farmers showed up, Goh put a black background behind the birds and just waited.

“It was like shooting a human model,” Goh said. “The only difference is they don’t take direction.”

Goh hopes the project will make people think twice about what they think of chickens and of animals in general.

“It’s just to give another chance at looking at these animals again,” he said. “They are more special than we might think. They’re not as ordinary as we might think.”

– Kyle Almond, CNN

ABOUT THE SERIES – COCKS

Ernest Goh’s latest photographic series explores the close relationship between animals and their human masters. Humans tend to anthropomorphize their pets considering them as members of the family and projecting human-like characteristics onto them. In his “Cocks” series, Goh has vividly captured these characteristics through his realist portraits of ornamental chickens known as Serama chickens bred for competition by many in Malaysia.

These chickens are prized for their built, size, behaviour and showmanship and compete in ‘beauty pageants’ held in villages throughout Malaysia. Judged on their stance, temperament and quality of their wing, comb and tail, owners of Seramas proudly regard their chickens as warriors or soldiers, ready for battle. Goh’s portraits in colour show these chickens at their best – displaying strength, beauty, grace and sometimes, even arrogance. They portray these proud animals in almost human-like poses, which are struck by the chickens without any prompting from their owners. The stark black background of his portraits keeps the eye focused on the splendour of the chickens who stand ready to show off their rich plumes of different hues. Goh’s beautifully composed photographs have succeeded in bringing out the majestic nature of these animals often sadly dismissed as mere livestock. Where his photography has been most effective is in showing them as creatures with individual personalities and attributes, giving them each a voice even if they are not able to speak.

“As a photographer, I am always interested in photographing the human condition. But this human condition does not exist in a vacuum as we share the natural world with animals. My interest in photographing animals is a natural extension of my interest in the human condition, because we are all inextricably linked to each other. We cannot exist without the other. I hope that  “Cocks” and my other animal series can in some way encourage us to reflect upon our relationship with animals,” says Ernest Goh about his series of animal portraits.

Ernest Goh first documented the relationship between humans and animals in “The Fish Book” (Wee Editions 2011) in which he photographed ornamental fishes bred as pets by many Singaporeans. The “Cocks” series is the second part of a larger project entitled The Animal Book (TAB) project that Ernest Goh is working on now which centres around the relationship between humans and animals.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Ernest started his career as a newspaper photographer for The Straits Times, Singapore’s national daily. As an independent photographer, Ernest freelanced for wire photo agencies such the Agence France-Presse and took on assignments for international publications such as The Smithsonian and Monocle magazine. His interest in storytelling led him to create photo stories and books for various non-profit organisations. They include Beyond Mask, a book published in honour of the medical workers who sacrificed their lives at the height of the SARS outbreak in Asia and Altered Land, a 4-year long documentation of the 2004 Tsunami aftermath in Aceh, Indonesia.

Ernest’s current work focuses on animals and their relationship with humans. He holds an MA from Goldsmiths College and was awarded the inaugural Incentivising Innovation Fund by the Institute of Contemporary Arts’ A-Frame Network, an initiative of the UK government’s Cultural Leadership Programme in 2009. In 2012 he was awarded the Discernment Award at the ICON de Martell Cordon Bleu Photography Prize in Singapore.

BOOK SPECIFICATIONS

SUMMARY: Reared and groomed by dedicated owners for participation in pageants, ornamental chickens, including the impressive Malaysian breed of Ayam Serama, project a natural and seemingly effortless charisma rivalling that of human models. Ernest Goh’s award-winning portraits capture the full range of these beautiful birds’ personalities: puffed chests, ruffled plumage, bowed heads and all. By turns provocative, humorous and surprising, the photographs in Cocks will move you to view our humble feathered friends in an entirely different light.

INTRODUCTION BY: Agnès de Gouvion Saint-Cyr. Curator of photography. Inspector General for Photography at Minsitère of Culture and Communication, and artistic director of the Rencontres d’Arles in 1990.

ISBN: 978-981-07-5626-0

SIZE: Hardcover 125 x 175mm 96pp

IMAGES FOR RELEASE

(Please contact ernsphy@gmail.com for publication of images)