Hot Local Chicks

by Dana O'Malley

14" x 17" • colored pencil, colored pencil collage, acrylic, and white-out on bristol board $$200

In this mixed media drawing I am trying to capture an imaginary likeness of my childhood neighbor’s chickens while considering how significant one word can become to a young person’s developing mind. As a kid, I always wondered why chick in phrases such as chick flick and hot chick was used in reference to women. Not knowing any Spanish or Spanglish derivatives, I assumed that chick had something to do with girls purposefully being called farm animal names. There were three probable reasons: 1. Chickens and girls can produce eggs 2. Cows and women can produce milk 3. People are often called offensive names in reaction to their gender Now as a young women I’ve been called all sorts of nasty names that a person of any gender can relate to hearing. In this drawing, I wanted to capture a contemporary, positive twist to my girlhood interpretation of the word chick. With crowns and colorful celebratory eggs, I wanted to show my neighbor’s urban chickens as queens—in other words, I wanted to capture their respected status in the green alley of St. Paul. These chickens aren’t anyone’s little squeeze or egg-bearing buddy or another hen pumped with hormones on the factory farm. I see my old neighbor’s urban St. Paul chickens as peaceful protestors to the Egg McMuffin, possible providers of green eggs--or not--and the real deal when it comes to using HOT and CHICK in the same sentence [sometimes].