ALLOWED TO GROW OLD Book
The University of Chicago Press has released Isa’s first book, Allowed to Grow Old, which features her portraits of elderly rescued farm animals and includes essays by NY Times bestselling author Sy Montgomery, Farm Sanctuary co-founder Gene Baur, and curator Anne Wilkes Tucker.
The book was selected by BuzzFeed as one of the best photography books of 2019 and featured in the NY Times Holiday Gift Guide. A Korean edition of the book will be released in 2022.
Read the critical acclaim the book has received.
Learn more about the project & view sample images from the book.
Order now
WHY PAY LIST PRICE?
Please consider purchasing the book at list price ($40) through your local independent bookstore or through Pasado’s Safe Haven, one of the sanctuaries Isa visited while working on her book.
SIGNED COPIES
Signed copies of Allowed to Grow Old are available through:
ClampArt Gallery, Griffin Museum of Photography, Photo-Eye Bookstore, Richard Levy Gallery, and Water Street Bookstore .
PERSONALIZED INSCRIPTIONS
Order personalized inscriptions for your copies of Allowed to Grow Old exclusively through Water Street Bookstore. At checkout, include the text you would like inscribed on your book in the “order comment” field. Water Street Books is based in Exeter, NH, but they ship internationally.
Another special option: purchase a special Collector’s Edition of Allowed to Grow Old, which includes a signed copy of the book inserted into a handmade box and accompanied by a limited edition print.
REVIEWS
“This is partly the story of a woman who starts out not knowing how to open and close a farm gate, and ends up learning how to put animals at ease so she can photograph them in close-up (approach them at eye level; lie in the hay with them for as long as it takes; don’t take your bag into the pen, because they’ll eat it). It’s also about characters like friendly Melvin the Angora goat, and Babs the impossibly stoic, shaggy donkey, who are described in the text with an empathy at times reminiscent of Helen Macdonald’s H is for Hawk. Making the text personal makes the book feel warm and open rather than preachy, which seems the right way to go if you really want to ‘start a conversation,’ as Leshko does.”
—Observer
“The photographer Isa Leshko reveals the beauty of a full life through dramatic black-and-white images of aging animals, all of which have been rescued from neglect and abuse.”
“Most animal photography has a cloying cuteness or a reflected sense of what humans want animals to be, so the fact that Leshko’s photographs reframe the interaction, in essence giving the animals the opportunity to tell their own stories for once, makes her pictures stand out. By respectfully showing us the beauty and dignity to be found in aging animals of all kinds, she has offered us humans both a measure of guilt at how we have treated them and an encouragement to forward-looking advocacy on their behalf. Her compassionate, gentle, well-crafted portraits remind us that we can do better for these animals, if we only take a moment to see them as sentient, feeling individuals.”
“These photographs will make you smile. Cumulatively, as Leshko intends, they also can’t help but make you think. Depending on how willing you are to follow that thinking to its logical conclusion, tears may succeed smiles.
“Beautiful, thought-provoking.”
"A poignant creation. . . . one of the things that is so remarkable about the portraits – you can see each animal's personality; their singularity and distinction. Each is a beautiful, living individual, not some abstract "thing" produced en masse at a factory for the purpose of fueling humans....Allowed to Grow Old opens a window into possibilities that most of don't think to imagine: What would that cheap, supermarket chicken have become if given the chance?"
"For each picture, Leshko approaches her subjects with the same dignity that she would a human being, taking the time to get to understand each of the animal's mannerisms and unique personalities. Since most of these rescues come from places of extreme cruelty such as slaughterhouses and factory farms, Leshko's special care and patience is crucial to building trust between animal and artist."
"That’s what makes the photos so special — and so arresting. When seeing a 33-year-old horse or a 28-year-old goose depicted in a dignified yet unflinching way, it’s difficult not to dwell on the inevitabilities humans and animals share. And, regardless of where a person falls on the meat-eating vs. vegetarian spectrum, it’s also hard to avoid thinking about an animal’s ability to experience pain and fear, as well as pleasure and contentment."
“Leshko’s portraits bring to mind Peter Hujar’s photographs of animals, which similarly captured the particularity of a dog or horse (or goose or goat), a sense of that creature’s individual consciousness. Leshko’s photographs, too, are rich in respect and empathy while avoiding sentimentality….Whatever viewers’ thoughts on animal rights, her pictures give us pause to consider why some are cherished pets and others are disposable.”
“Leshko’s work is singular in its exploration of the lives of non companion animals….[Her] profiles show these nonhuman animals as their own beings rather than as commodities. Readers will be hard pressed not to consider that message in examining the food and products they consume.”
“But Leshko is after something altogether different, and more spiritual. Her photographs of elderly animals serve not as documents of death, as theorists like Susan Sontag or Roland Barthes would have it, but instead as images of life, and ultimately, of gift.”
—Griffin Oleynick | Commonweal
“The best nature-related book of 2019 is also the single most viscerally powerful book of the year, something that could only have been accomplished through photography as breathtaking as Isa Leshko’s. In this book, on page after page, readers see gorgeous photos of farm animals who are not worked to death or slaughtered in their second year of life. The cumulative result is nothing short of astonishing.”
"Leshko set out to make portraits of the elderly residents of farm sanctuaries to remind us that the animals we rely on for food and dairy and leather and wool are more than just a commodity, but that they are individuals deserving of care and respect and honor. Leshko’s photographs are also a reminder that all that any being wants––human or animal––is to live as long as they possibly can."
—E.B. Bartels | Entropy Magazine
“In this unexpected encounter with aging animals, Isa Leshko enables us to see what she sees: the beauty and dignity of those allowed to live into old age. There is something new in these gorgeous portraits of the old.”
—Carol Adams, author of Sexual Politics of Meat
“Allowed to Grow Old is a priceless and heartfelt tribute in stunning images and moving words to elderly farmed animals — senior citizens — who had previously lived horrific lives. This beautiful book clearly reveals the individuality of each animal photographed, and shows that farmed animals are no different from the companion animals with whom we share our homes and our hearts. They all are sentient beings with unique characters and personalities, who simply want to live out their lives with lots of love and in peace and safety. As an ethologist who has studied the emotional lives of a wide variety of animals, I could easily feel what each individual was feeling when they were photographed, and could well imagine the lives they have led. I hope this book enjoys a global audience. No matter what language readers speak, these images transcend different cultures and belief systems. They are that compelling.”
—Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals
"Leshko's photography captures animals, living on farm sanctuaries, in their old age—something we don't often have the privilege to see. Her stunning images are accompanied by biographies of these beautiful animals, who are presented with dignity and respect."
—Mayim Bialik, actress, author, neuroscientist
“It is a pleasure to see these elderly cousins of ours, rheumy-eyed, bewhiskered, unsteady on their feet, enjoying their twilight years in peace, security, and dignity.”
—J.M. Coetzee, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature & Booker Prize
“There is great poise and dignity in the animals Isa Leshko captures with her lens: their characters shine brightly despite their often devastating histories. She looks at them, and her gaze reveals them as individuals. One hopes our society looks, too, and does better for them all. What Leshko gives us with these photographs is a reminder of the very real fates of these and all farm animals. I would love to know every one of them.”
—Alexandra Horowitz, author of Inside of a Dog
“Beautiful art and powerful animal advocacy–Isa Leshko’s portraits of elderly farmed animals are both. Abe the goat (age 21) I gaze at just because he’s so handsome; the images of Pearl (age 7), Violet (age 12), and Stella (age 18) affirm for me why I don’t eat turkeys, pigs, or cows.Isa’s words are compelling too: in describing her patient methods of honoring each animal’s comfort level with being photographed at his or her sanctuary home, it becomes clear why these images so touch our hearts. This volume is a perfect choice for animal lovers.”
—Barbara J. King, author of Personalities on the Plate
"I learned at an early age that animals are complex, thinking, feeling creatures. All animals. So often, though, we overlook the lives of those animals who are raised for farming and meat production. Isa Leshko offers us a deeply personal view into the lives of these animals. Her portraits are tender and present the inescapable fact that each subject is a living thinking creature with an individual history and personality."
—Moby, musician & author of Porcelain
“Rarely do we see elderly farm animals. Pigs, cows, horses and chickens are usually killed before they have a chance to experience a full life–which means they die young. Isa Leshko’s images speak volumes: these are sentient beings. Yes, the animals are old, but also wise in years, and still living their lives, under the care of people who have their welfare at heart and want them to live as long as they can without pain. Here is a book animal lovers will want to savor and embrace–as it reminds us to hold close our own aging animals.”
—Virginia Morell, author of Animal Wise: How We Know Animals Think and Feel
“In Allowed to Grow Old, Leshko’s remarkable, unsentimental photos of older chickens, turkeys, pigs, cows and other animals achieve something that I have not seen before in photos of domesticated animals. We get to know them, not as things to eat or produce milk or eggs for us, but as individuals with personalities and lives of their own to lead.”
—Peter Singer, philosopher & author of Animal Liberation
“Empathy. Humans have the greatest capacity for it. And we have the greatest need for much, much more of it. In this soulful, deeply conveyed book, extraordinary photos team with eloquent words to show us the wisdom path to becoming more human by becoming more humane.”
—Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel
“Very few books can make you laugh, cry, smile, and ponder the universe all at once. This rare, beautiful, and thoughtful volume of photographs and essays does exactly all that. Please read it, please think about its message, and, if you can, please act on it!”
—Gene Stone, co-author of Living the Farm Sanctuary Life and author of The Awareness
“Because of the betrayals they endured at our hands over long lifetimes, the eyes of Isa Leshko’s subjects radiate deep sadness and reproach, but also a touching dignity and lack of bitterness and fear. I found myself stroking their fur and feathers on the pages to comfort them or perhaps to ask their forgiveness. Hers is an unforgettable book.”
—Steven Wise, Founder & President of Nonhuman Rights Project