Having grown up near a slaughterhouse, Sue Coe has made exposing the horrific operations of the meat packing industry in America a central issue in her work since the late 1980s. In this drawing, Coe depicts a tragedy of 1991, when a raging fire consumed a poultry packing plant in Hamlet, North Carolina. There was no sprinkler system or fire extinguisher and padlocked doors prevented the escape of many of the workers, resulting in the death and injury to over 75 plant employees. Although Coe’s social criticism is directed at oppressive working conditions, she presents this drawing as a combined commentary on both economic inequality and animal rights.

The artist has contributed numerous political drawings for the The New York Times and The London Times. This drawing was published in Dead Meat (1995), a book illustrating Coe’s six-year project documenting meat packing plants across the country.