Edible East: The Future of Food
Digital photography installations.
Commissioned for Edible East Art/Science Trail, 2021-22.
In 2021 I was invited to be part of Edible East’s Art/Science project on the future of food, which explored the future challenges of feeding an ever-increasing population with current practises which place a heavy burden on our environment and our wildlife. The project brought together and scientists involved in world-leading research to find more sustainable methods of food production. The project resulted in an outdoor art/science trail at various locations around the city of Norwich. I was commissioned to create two pieces for the trail, which were exhibited at Hungate Arts and Unthank Art Space.
Pea Study
Exhibited at Hungate Arts, 2022-23
Through working with food scientists as part of the project, I became quite fascinated with the depth of research and the amount of data gathered on foodstuffs that I take for granted, and in particular, the juxtaposition of cutting edge technology and nature in the form of plants. In Pea Study I sought to understand the relationships and interactions between these two seemingly disparate worlds, and question the assumption of nature and technology as separate (perhaps even opposing) entities.
Future Food?
Pictured with work by Sophie Eade, Hannelore Smith and Adrian Draigo.
Exhibited at Unthank Arts Space, 2023-23
Future Food? is an installation entirely made up of photographs of edible wild plants, mainly focusing on nettles. The images are heavily digitally manipulated to the point of abstraction, the blocks and pixels echoing graphs and data from plant research. The imagery raises questions about foods we value and those we overlook and consider weeds, despite their many nutritional properties. I found myself wondering about the future of food growing and whether what we currently consider to be ‘weeds’ might one day become an important source of sustenance as our environment changes.