Food
Amber Pierce, Maia Micou, Nico Buerkley
Artist Statement
Food is a basic necessity required of all humans for life on Earth, yet hunger and malnutrition are on the rise. Due to many reasons, this basic necessity is often difficult to acquire. Within our individual research we found that the reasons for this are due to a dizzying number of factors. There are many contradicting problems: there are both food shortages and overproduction of food, food deserts and massive food consumption and waste. While some people have nothing-single countries produce enough food to share even beyond their own borders. In our artwork, we look at glaring issues over food as well as what people and artists have done to combat this issue.
Our research is visually divided: within the water of the globe, we represent the effects our eating habits have on the environment. Our world has been forever changed by mankind’s agricultural habits- including over-cultivation of land and deterioration of environments. In the continents of the globe there are images, words, and headlines that reflect the ways in which food disparities exist within groups of people and why, and what is being done about it. Factors such as racism, capitalism, and climate change effect the issue of “food”. These issues fuel the chaos of the struggle to address and combat those things, the chaos in our artwork is contrasted by the overarching shape of our collage: yin and yang symbol which represents peace and balance. In order to strive towards balance, we must address the issue of food, and we must take a critical and active role in combating this issue for those who lack.
Resources
https://www.instagram.com/757communityfridges/?hl=en
The 757 Community Fridge is an organization based in Norfolk, Virginia. They are providing communities with free food in an accessible location and by accessible means. There is a community fridge located at Mea Cupla Café on Colonial Avenue. If you have food to give, please consider exploring local resources that make it easy to give. Lack of access is a major cause behind malnutrition and starvation.
https://hampton.gov/2798/Community-Gardens
http://www.livingeov.com/community-garden/
This is a resource that explains what community garden are, and why they are helpful. These also provide the location for a few community gardens located in Norfolk and Hampton Virginia. Consider volunteering at a community garden, or planting a garden of your own that is accessible to those in need.
Watson, D. M. (2021, February). Virginia MOCA’s latest exhibition is about “Nourishing” the soul, the land and each other. The Virginia Pilot.
Watson writes to announce to Virginian locals that “Nourish” is now open to public at the Virginia Museum of Modern Art in Virginia Beach, Virginia. This is an exhibition of multiple artists who have created works around the concept of “food”. The exhibition calls attention to social justice issues such as food insecurity, while also shedding light on food as a connector of peoples. Many local artists paired with organizations dedicated to bridging the gap created by food insecurities. Artists and activists collaborated on work that would shine light on food disparities and provide ways to address these topics. This is included in my research, because it serves as a real life example of how artists can utilize their skills to provide assistance to those in need.
Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy. (2020). Food Insecurity in Hampton Roads. The State of the Region: Hampton Roads 2020, 103–120. https://doi.org/10.25776/f3s4-zj37
This source provides an oversight to local food insecurity, which will aid in adding factual statistics to my research. Food Insecurity in Hampton Roads is compiled by the Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy- a part of the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University. “The Center is supported by the Strome College of Business, Old Dominion University, a set of generous private donors, and organizations including the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce. It is important to note, however, that these supporters endorse neither the studies the Center produces nor any of the specific positions that the Center and its personnel may take on an issue.” https://www.odu.edu/business/center/ceap
Steinmetz, G., & Revkin, A. (2020). The human planet: Earth at the dawn of the anthropocene. Abrams.
Revkin and Stienmets combine research and photography to explore Anthropocene- the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment. This relates to my area of study for the visual and contextual completion of this project because it will be centered on food insecurity and the causes of them. Our over-abundance of food production both negatively affects the environment and creates economic/social disparities. This research is presented to chronicle the earth past and present, as humanity continues to develop the land. Steinmetz’s photography work explores documentation on the human footprint.
“Activist Art in Social Justice Pedagogy” Edited by Barbara Beyerbach, R. Deborah Davis, & Tania Ramalho
A lovely collection of articles detailing social justice art and its role of deepening the multicultural comprehension. Particularly the article outlining Judy Chicago’s ‘The Dinner Party’ and the articles of farm and food growing art movements as they pertain to sustainable education for a brighter socialy just future.
Beyerbach, B., & Davis, R. D. (2011). Activist art in social
justice pedagogy: Engaging students in glocal issues
through the arts. New York: P. Lang.
“History as Art, Art as History” By Dipti Desai, Jessica Hamlin, & Rachel Mattson
This book is largely for inspiring a hunt for more artists to fit the collage while also connecting heavily to the theme of interdisciplinary teaching of art and social studies to expand the scope of social justice vision in K-12 similar to the ideas presented by Judy Chicago
Desai, D., Hamlin, J., & Mattson, R. (2010). History as art, art
as history: Contemporary art and social studies education.
New York: Routledge.
Peer-reviewed Article(s):
Social Justice, Food Loss, and the Sustainable Development Goals in the Era of COVID-19 by Janet Fleetwood
Helping outline the sustainable development goals in a global context such as the United Nations and the supporting principles of social justice movements surrounding global evaluations of progress.
Fleetwood, J. (2020). Social Justice, Food Loss, and the
Sustainable Development Goals in the Era of COVID-19.
Sustainability, 12(12), 5027. doi:10.3390/su12125027
Newspaper Article(s):
“Schools Rethink Health Class, Incorporate Mindfulness Training; Lectures on drugs and STDs are being replaced with sessions on life skills” from Wall Street Journal’s Sophia Hollander
Continuing the theme of where does poverty start and how can we get social justice and art movements into education. I was also inspired by Amber’s discussion of the insufficiencies of sex education, physical education, and public health education.
Hollander, S. (2015, May 11). Schools Rethink Health Class,
Incorporate Mindfulness Training; Lectures on drugs and STDs are being replaced with sessions on life skills. Wall Street Journal (Online) http://proxy.lib.odu.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.proxy.lib.odu.edu/newspapers/schools-rethink-health-class-incorporate/docview/1679828758/se-2?accountid=12967