ARTS & CULTURE
Project GOAT A retired executive takes on the challenge of his life PHOTOS /MARCIA BIGGS
Rob Canton guards over his herd of painted and decorated goats as they await their debut at the Tampa Super Bowl. BY MARCIA BIGGS On a bright Sunday morning, Macy Higgins pulls up to the Grady Goat Farm in Thonotosassa with a painted goat in the bed of her pickup. The goat’s not real, mind you, but is a larger-than-life model that’s aiming to get in the barn with the other 45 or so painted goats—a “herd” soon to grow to 55. You can say she is looking for her tribe … and she has found it. Inside the big barn are rows upon rows of goats in waiting. But nary a bleat echoes forth. These goats, all painted and adorned in anticipation of what appears to be a barnstorming costume party, silently await their destiny. Next February, they will be auctioned off during Super Bowl LV (55) in Tampa. Some 55 artists, mostly from across Tampa Bay, volunteered to paint these beauties, in support of Project GOAT and the fight against human trafficking. This hideous
10
StPeteLifeMag.com
May/June 2020
practice is the illegal transporting of people for purposes of forced labor or sexual exploitation. The pop art goat of emerging artist Macy Higgins is dreamy and colorful in shades of pink and blue, covered in stars and cacti, floating citrus and clouds where female figures recline, they have daisies for faces. Every image has a meaning. “I wanted my goat to focus on the young victims and survivors of sex trafficking,” she says. “She (the goat is female) is an oasis, a refuge. The clouds represent peace and dreams for the future, the daisies are innocence. The citrus means new life and freshness.” Higgins even added an udder in paper maché to make sure the goat was female.
