PHAGO-
PHAGO- is a series of still-life photography that explores the aesthetics and aestheticization of food. I explore the formal qualities of fresh food as an aesthetic object and simultaneously critique how the beautification of food serves to mask the reality behind our everyday food consumption.
When I started shopping at farmers’ markets and seeing more organic forms of fresh produce there, I noticed the ‘unnatural’ uniformity in size and shape in fresh produce at conventional supermarkets. I (was) also (inspired by historical depictions of fresh food markets, such as Joachim Beuckelaer’s Fish Market 1568, and) became interested in how the untampered display of seafood at more traditional fish markets confronts us with the raw reality of the food chain, of life and death. In comparison, I found it absurd how seafood and meat are packaged and displayed in supermarkets to remove the concept of death and make the food more appealing to the consumer.
My work can be seen as a cynical representation of the reality of the fresh food we consume, exposing the aesthetic veneer and revealing the absurdity and even cruelty involved in producing and distributing our food. At the same time, my work also captures the moments of aesthetic pleasure one might find in looking at fresh food in the daily routine of selecting and handling it, or placing it in a container to store in a refrigerator or freezer.
When I am looking for an object to photograph, my perception of fresh food is different from when I am looking for food to eat (in fact, I never eat the food that I photograph). This shifting of perception is reflected in how the fish or vegetables oscillate between food and aesthetic object in my work. My photographs of fish, in particular, could be seen as unsettling or even grotesque representations of food. However, it is the artistic object that highlights the concept of life and death and invites the viewer to find beauty in it. In this way, my work employs aesthetics to reveal what is intrinsic to our food consumption rather than concealing it.
My work embodies not only the contemporary culture of hyper-awareness around food, but also my own conscious decisions regarding health and ethics over simply satisfying my appetite. In this way, my photographs of fresh food depict the intersection of human desire and morality, and interrogate how we perceive food differently depending on our value systems. As such, my work explores the aesthetics of ambivalence at the intersection of beauty and the grotesque, life and death, and desire and morality.