From Ellyn Kail’s article for Feature Shoot:
[Leshko] started her work with elderly animals at around the same time as her own mother struggled with advanced Alzheimer’s disease. She did not photograph her mother during this time, and in the beginning, a few of the animals she met inevitably reminded her of her mom. The first negatives from the project remained private for about a year until she was ready to return to them.
While the initial pictures might have emerged from a period of grief, they evolved to become emblems of resilience and hope for a better future. With time, Leshko’s perspective on aging shifted. For farm animals, advanced age is a rare gift. The photographer has spent hours on the ground, contentedly watching pigs and turkeys sleep in the sun. She’s seen a pig named Teresa play with a beach ball. She’s been greeted by an excited goat named Melvin, who routinely placed his front hooves on the gate of his enclosure whenever he saw a friendly face.