Feast & Famine- Karla Almonte

Willie Cole, Clear Pool, 2016.

The consumption of food and the concept of food form a big part of who we are as individuals as well as a society. Our body depends on nutrients to function accordingly, and so does our mind in order to make us feel good about ourselves. Eating has various symbolic meanings which tend to be related to comfort, stress reduction, security and power. In the ‘Feast and Famine’ exhibition food is explored as a social, political, and bodily phenomenon. The artists exhibited delve into the relationship amongst food, death, sex whilst conferring it to global economics and geo-politics. Additionally, the works bring forward the environmental impacts of food production, food justice and how the food chain operates from an artistic perspective.

Thin, Lauren Greenfield.

Thin, Lauren Greenfield.

The two projects that I will be discussing are “Thin” by Lauren Greenfield and “What It Once Was” by Tamara Kostianovsky. The project “Thin” consists on a series of photographs derived from a documentary in which the human faces and stories behind a mental illness phenomenon are revealed. Greenfield, documented the lives of several patients suffering from eating disorders and how difficult the process of treatment is. In the photographs, she compares their initial state with their progress after receiving treatment, allowing the viewer to experience the emotional journey those patients once lived. Eating disorders are very intimate and secretive, however, Greenfield captures her muses in a vulnerable state exposing their brutal cry for help. The series of work are deeply rooted in the distortions and artifice of popular culture and the need for perfection; societal pressure to meet unrealistic stereotypes. Aside from society holding great amounts of blame, the experiences those girls have gone through has lead them to fall into a pit of psychological stress; being abused, personal and familial issues, as well as genetics and mental illnesses. In the book “Ways of Seeing” by John Berger, it is talked about publicity and its impact on self-love. Berger says, “The publicity image steals her love for herself as she is, and offers it back to her for the price of the product.” Our insecurities are fomented by a capitalist society that has been trying to eradicate our self-confidence for ages through false advertisement, hence why those victims depicted in Greenfield’s project are a vivid example of our cultures’ main prey. Moreover, the project ‘Thin’ is significant to my own project in the sense that it is attacking an issue which outrageously affects women. It is representing a group of people that have been wronged by society indirectly; my project delves into society allowing men to abuse women because they possess a cultural power of being superior and possessiveness while ‘Thin’ explores the idea of the food industry and idealistic standards traumatizing the concept of body image.

What it once was, Tamara Kostianovsky

Contrastingly, the project ‘What it once was’ by Tamara Kostianovsky goes into a different direction from eating disorders and societal pressures. ‘What it once was’ consists on a sculpture made out of various layers of fabrics belonging to the artist, meat hooks and chains which ultimately conform a slaughtered animal carcass. The sculpture attracts the viewer due to its fleshy appearance and its unapologetic stitching, as well as by its realistic recreation of ligaments and bone structure. Kostianovsky utilizes an animal carcass to symbolize the grotesque nature of violence and encourages the viewer to reflect about brutality, poverty, consumption, and the vulnerability of one’s physical existence. By cannibalizing her own clothes, she connects the violence perpetrated against humans with the violence against animals and she rationalizes it as a method to unveil the structure of violence that begins in the foods we ingest and takes over the world and ourselves as consumers. When I took a first glance at the piece of art, I was flooded with ambiguity because I did not fully comprehend the intention behind the work. However, Nato Thompson examines ambiguity and deducts that “the inability for a viewer to pin down a work’s intentions is the very thing that makes the dynamin significant” (Thompson, 48) and indeed, it did make the sculpture to be more engaging. In order for me to fully understand it purpose, I had to dedicate some time to research about it context and symbolism, and I had to fully appreciate the piece and take in every small detail that was provided to me. The theme of violence that is present in this piece relates to my project since they are both focusing on senseless destruction in a crude but yet subtle way. Although my project consists on celebrating the lives of victims from feminicide cases, I am also inquiring into the topic of brutality and the vulnerability of women’s bodies. Kostianovsky’s carcass can be considered a sculptural intervention since she is “manipulating the visual field to create a learning environment in which we, as viewers, participate” ( Interventionist, 52), she is encouraging her viewers to educate ourselves about the meat industry and its unnecessary cruelty.

Work Cited

Thompson, Nato. Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the 21st Century. Melville House, 2015. 

Sholette, Gregory, and Nato Thompson. The Interventionists: Users Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Life ; MASS MoCA, 2004.

Berger, John, and Michael Dibb. Ways of Seeing. London: BBC Enterprises, 1972.