“Feast and
Famine” is an exhibition that explores food in many different aspects:
socially, politically and bodily. Food is considered as a commodity, since it
is a useful and valuable item. The portrayal of food in art has many meanings,
and is observed through many types of media from different artists. The theme of "diversity" in the exhibit was very compelling, as it shows the wave of human diversity through food. Empowering minorities through art is used to show the diversities of artists through using food as their subjects. Food is a universal concept that brings people together, especially artists. There are many examples of food diversity, explained as a social topic, in ancient and contemporary art.
Renee Cox's The Liberation of UB and Lady J. shows Cox as a superhero named Raje rescuing a newly empowered Uncle Ben from his box of rice and Aunt Jemima from her maple syrup label. A modern-day Aunt Jemima dressed in a wet-look bikini and dominatrix-style knee boots and Uncle Ben, dressed liked a shirtless boxer step off their respective packaging into new roles that are no more "liberated" than their predecessors. The stance of the female figures shows a strong side to "blackness" and portrays diversity using food.
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| Renee Cox, The Liberation of UB and Lady J., 1998 |
Divya Mehra's Modernity at Large: Candy Hearts, 2015 is a piece of artwork that implies diversity through food. The artwork is comprised of candies stamped with the series' title that are displayed in a small heart-shaped bowl and says "Enjoy Diversity". Both works destabilize singular understandings of the term diversity which can hide differences in politics and policies, explaining how this art work describes social and political themes of the world through food.
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| Divya Mehra, Modernity at Large: Candy Hearts, 2015 |
Clara Peeter's Still Life with Flowers, Goblet, Dries Fruit and Pretzels, 1611 portrayed food through a social and cultural aspect, and explained diversity. This art work was painted by a Dutch artist and contains "pretzels" which portray diversity because it was invented by German monks to rewarded children who had learned their prayers (Stokstad, 754). The twisted shapes represented the crossed arms of a child praying. This painting helped show diversity of culture and religion through food.
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| Clara Peeter, Still Life with Flowers, Goblet, Dries Fruit and Pretzels, 1611 |
Pieter Claesz's Still Life with Tazza, 1636 portrays social and cultural aspects of food. The objects in the painting are part of the set of household articles that would have been owned by the well-to-do classes and were all made in the Netherlands, except the tazza, which was imported from Italy (Stokstad, 767). This painting explains the diversity of food from other cultures and portrays food in a social and cultural manner.
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| Pieter Claesz, Still Life with Tazza, 1636 |
Food is a huge part of art, including old artwork and modern contemporary art. Many artists use food in different ways to portray diversity through their works. In Cox's artwork, liberation of black women and men using food shows diversity and Mehra's artwork shows diversity through candy hearts that say "Enjoy Diversity". Both Peeter and Pieter's art work explain food through diversity of culture and society using other cultures to portray food. "Feast and Famine" exhibition helps portray food through the light of diversity.
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