Feast & Famine/ Art & Activism

Louis Bourgeois once said, "An artist can show things that other people are terrified of expressing". Visiting the Feast & Famine Art exhibition was a different experience for me because I have never been to an exhibition that related to my project so well as well as other projects. Even though, all the works of art were marvelous there were two projects that stood out to me the most because I felt they related to my project on immigration. The first project that caught my attention was Bee work: sunflower pollen by Christopher Russell (2014- Glazed white earthenware) which according to the curator Anonda Bell the project was to raise awarness to our bees that are in danger of extinction. A bee's job is crucial in our food production since it's said that one third of the food we consume on a daily bases relies on bees pollination. When I looked further into this project I found that Anonda Bell wrote that, Russell was an expert at hand built ceramic which allowed him to demonstrate the complexity of the beehive and the grains of pollen. Russell engages with the audience by allowing the audience to awaken and realize the importance of bees to balance our Earth's ecosystem and global food supply. This work exists inside of a political and capitalist structure because many question why honeybees are endangered and its brought global attention to this matter since Honey bees play an important role in food production which affects big businesses of agriculture. Beekeepers have been investigating bees pollination and while they are not scientists themselves their information is useful and meaningful. They suggested that neonicotinoid insecticides were likely the reason why so many bees are dying, but many chemical companies, scientists and government regulators rejected that idea because there is no evidence that it affects honey bees. The problem with that is that they jump to quick to conclusions rather than dig deeper into the problem.The challenges to this issue are important because they affect our bees. 

Christopher Russell
Bee Work: Sunflower Pollen
2014
Glazed White Earthenware

Side Note:
Info on Artist

Keary Rosen
Wet (from the series Pain) 2018
PLA print, polyurethane resin, silicone, MDF
Burnt (from the series Pain) 2018
PLA print, polyurethane resin, silicone, MDF
Carnivore (from the series Pain)2018

The second project that caught my attention was Keary Rosen :Wet, Burn, Carnivore (from the series Pain) 2018, PLA print, polyurethane resin, silicone, MDF which according to the curator Anonda Bell the project was to also open our eyes to realize that we are everyday leaning to accepting processed foods and seem to prefer it over natural grown fruits and vegetables. When I first sat there and saw the fruits they seemed real to me but when she explained they're plastic I couldn't believe it. The crazy part is that even though we know that processed food is harmful for our bodies we still love it and ignorant to the fact that it can lead to obesity and various chronic diseases. Processed foods are energy-dense rather than nutrient-dense and will leave us feeling queasy rather than give your body the vitamins, minerals and fiber it needs and this is how Rosen engages with the audience. Her work exists inside of a political and capitalist structure because policies, our economy and society plays a huge role in American eating habits. Thus, it becomes an object of political expression. The downside to that is that we are allowing Americans to feed upon food that is only hurting them rather than benefiting them.

Side Note:
Info on Artist

I chose these two artworks because they connect to my project thematically in message and in form. For example, Bees are necessary for our food production and if they all die we can endanger some of our food supply just like how immigrants are needed in this country because many of them do the jobs (trash, housekeeping, cleaning bathrooms) that middle class or wealthy Americans wouldn't do. Likewise, when we saw the processed food and ignore the fact that it is harming us physically we do the same when we ignore the fact that there are families being teared apart daily and thrown into centers that feel like prison. Instead of bing ignorant to what is going on we should open our eyes and rise up to mark a difference in this country. 

In conclusion, this exhibition touched upon issues of art, power and activism because it was eye-opening and didn't simply allow the audience to view the art work and go home but it captivated the mind of the audience and made them go home questioning what they can do to change matters. This exhibition also involves issues of social and cultural capital because we have the knowledge and skills to be understand our position in society so let us not allow it to "permeate our world such that when we speak we no longer say what we mean" (Thompson, 4). Therefore we can be interventionists and "appeal to a viewer who is confronted by an increasingly privatized and controlled visual world" (Thomson, Sholette, 14). How can we do that? Well, "by a broad range of visual, spatial and cultural experiences" (Thomson, Sholette, 14).