Feast For The Eyes - The story of food in photography

The Feast for the Eyes exhibition at the Photographers Gallery is an intriguing and unique depiction of the
development of food photography, how social and political context has influenced it, and links greatly to my
theme of eating disorders characterised through food. “Food – and how it is photographed – defines how we
live and how we value ourselves, and, at its very best, connects us to our dreams and desires.” says Susan
Bright, the co-curator of the exhibition. The exhibition hones in on the many symbolic meanings of food
within art, and the power food holds in of itself, and against people.

The artists focus on and raise questions about issues such as “wealth, poverty, consumption, appetite,
tradition, gender, race, desire, pleasure, revulsion and domesticity” through three sectors - Still Life, Around
the Table and Playing with Food. Still Life is about tradition - within food, eating, culture and the tradition of
food photography, as well as the changes in this art form and how it has transformed over the years. Around
the Table focuses more on rituals surrounding food and eating, something quite prevalent in eating disorders,
as well as cultural identities. Finally, Playing with Food is a more humorous and fun perspective of food
photography, “poking fun at tradition” and in turn twisting the meaning and connotations of food into
something new.

Within the Still Life section, artists such as Jan Groover, Irving Penn and Nobuyoshi Araki reshape and and
transform food photography from tradition, manipulating light, colour and composition to create something
completely new. For example, Jan Groover’s Untitled KSL no.78.4, 1978, displays a cropped image of pear
and cutlery fragments, seemingly arranged unnaturally to construct an abstract, surreal photograph. Due to
the ordinary objects being photographed in a sink, Groover seems to be injecting a “subtle feminist subtext”,
in which she challenges traditional female stereotypes and expectations (specifically domesticity) as she
challenges traditional photographic conventions. There are many other images in the exhibition that also
challenge photography tradition, such as Andy Warhol’s polaroids - Food Still Life, 1986 and Banana, 1977-
78. However, there are more traditional images as well, somewhat reminiscent of the classic 16th-17th
century Still Life paintings, such as Sharon Core’s Early American-Apples in a Porcelain Basket, 2008.
These more traditional food photography still life’s can be comparable to the photographer Mat Collishaw
and his Death Row series, which again shows the power food holds within a single image.

Another artist that tests the traditions of food photography is Irving Penn with Frozen Foods, New York,
1977, which shows a sculpture built from different frozen fruits and vegetables. The photograph has quite an
intense effect, due to the major contrast with colour and shape, and the fact that the picture was taken just as
the fruit was beginning to thaw, then revealing the true colours of the food. This somewhat time-halting
image shows the great, minute detail of the fruit and vegetable. Looking at this through the perspective of a
person with an eating disorder, food is obsessed over and looked at in so much detail that for them, time and
their whole lives stop for food. Penn’s image uncovers the obsession with food that so many of us have in
such a beautiful, yet stark, way. In contrast, Nobuyoshi Araki’s series The Banquet, 1993 displays food in a
“garish and harsh way, emphasising the physicality” and all aspects of eating, even the less attractive parts.
In Araki’s series, “pleasure and desire collide”, suggesting that while desire sometimes overrides before
eating - many people will not eat something that is unattractive aesthetically, pleasure is often at the forefront
of ones mind. This creates a sense that food can easily shift from delicious to disgusting, linking back to the
battle between desire or natural inclination, and disgust that eating disorder sufferers often face.

One artist in Around the Table who tries to display the link between food and identity is Weegee, with
[Stazzone is on WPA and enjoys his favourite food as he’s heard that the Army doesn’t go in very strong for
serving spaghetti], 1940, a photograph of a man forcefully shovelling spaghetti into his mouth at a diner in
New York. With Weegee often turning his subjects into characters, this photo depicts the diner man as
greedy and rapacious, making his eating seem animalistic and unstoppable. This can be related back to eating
disorders, specifically bingeing, in which the person feels they are unable to stop themselves from eating,
with uncontrollable gluttony taking over their body and mind.

Also within Around the Table is a selection of recipe “cookbooklets” which are small free leaflets/booklets
that contain recipes, starting in the 1940, published by brands to promote their cooking product. Examples
include New Recipes for Good Eating, 1949, Menus and Recipes to Diet Delight-fully, 1951 and Miss
Fluffy’s Rice Cook Book, 1968. These cookbooklets are not only selling a brand with recipes and diet advice,
but also a “lifestyle”, using bright colours, heavy illustrations, puns/wordplay and happy actors, which
somewhat seem to resemble children’s television shows. This immediately raises an issue of presenting diet
culture to children from a young age, especially with cookbooklets like Recipes to Diet Delight-fully, which
can act as an explanation for the international rise in eating disorders over the last 30-40 years.

Finally, in Playing with Food, one of the most effective, shocking and disturbing pieces is that of Cindy
Sherman’s Untitled no.175, 1987, which shows Sherman’s mortified screaming face reflected in a pair of
sunglasses on a beach, surrounded by half eaten cakes and vomit. This image concentrates on the power of
food in relation to disordered eating and body expectations, with it being the focal point of the photo as
opposed to Sherman herself. Ideas and questions concerning self-disgust, bulimia, bingeing and purging are
raised in this powerful image, reminding people of the dark relationship women can have with food. The
most effective aspect of this particular piece is the way repulsion and humour come together to display the
issue of eating disorders among women, with Sherman’s face appearing almost comical as she screams at the
sight of her reflection. This can link to the portrayal of eating disorders in the media, especially comedy
films, which are often undermined or mocked to appear as a quirky trait a character possesses.

To conclude, the Feast for the Eyes exhibition is a whirlwind of shocking, funny and somber photographs of
food, presenting many issues and debates, as well as messages and techniques, to truly reveal the power of
food.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://www.timeout.com/london/art/feast-for-the-eyes-the-story-of-food-in-photography-review - TimeOut
exhibition review

https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibition/feast-eyes-story-food-photography -
Photographer’s Gallery exhibition page

https://www.artrabbit.com/events/feast-for-the-eyes-the-story-of-food-in-photography-the-photographers-
gallery - Art Rabbit exhibition information page

https://www.womeninthefoodindustry.com/feast-for-the-eyes-story-of-food-in-photography-exhibition-
photographers-gallery-review/ - Women In The Food Industry exhibition review