Notes from crit with Lisa Reihana:

The feedback I got for this installation was OVERWHELMINGLY positive.
I wanted to use the crit to see if I could get the go-ahead to print my x-ray images on the conveyor belt. They agreed that the 'readymade' isn't my thing, and while the conveyor's presence and movement is effective on its own, within my practice it is definitely more of a blank canvas. Nonetheless it was great to have a chance to show it on its own before starting to print on it.
The petri dishes were a point of much discussion - again, a lot of great feedback, although the OHP definitely isn't necessary in such a light space and conceptually overcomplicates it. Nikau commented that the use of the petri dishes doesn't do justice to the process and effect of printing transparent cross-sections and displaying them in 3D space - i.e. they could be presented in some way that gives them more impact.
The crit opened up a lot of discussion about food and food systems and the myriad topics I'm tackling in this project. I'm thrilled that as soon as the ball gets rolling everybody gets enthusiastic about these ideas and everybody has something to say. Lisa's advice that stuck with me the most was to stop worrying about making the ideas more ambiguous, when I voiced my concern that it might all be 'too obvious.' She said the complete opposite - that when you're dealing with ideas that are important and that you want to be accessible to a public audience, you can make the ideas obvious, and that's okay. Another really comforting thing she said to me was that I don't need to stress about the overwhelming sensation that there's not enough time and there are a thousand other artworks you want to make. We're all acutely aware of our deadline at the end of this year, but as she pointed out, that's not the end of our art practice - we've got the rest of our lives to realise all the other ideas.
Thanks a million Lisa.

A couple of fantastic articles

Both of these articles use a really interesting digital interface, incorporating the text with images/ videos/ animations/ links. I think this is a fascinating new direction for journalism, turning an article into a more visually immersive and interactive experience.

'It's Not Climate Change, It's Everything Change' by Margaret Atwood

'How will we fill 9 billion bowls by 2050?'

Tests - installation for visiting critique

I spent a long time with the images I'd printed at V3, trying different arrangements with the vinyl sheets. Below are images of different compositions.

Documentation: grape spiders

At the start of August, I took a couple of prints and the grocery bags to gift as a thank you to the people at Mercy Radiology and MPI for letting me use their scanners and pick their brains. They were stoked, and said they would frame the prints and put them on display in both workplaces! At Mercy they also said I was more than welcome to come back and do some more X-rays. The images I’ve been using are getting a bit tired so I might just take them up on that offer…

While I was at the MPI headquarters, they also asked if they could use the image for marketing/publicity graphics. I really hope something comes out of that.

I also got talking with Dale about the fruit fly and other instances of imported fruit contamination, including a recent recall of grapes from Mexico which were found to be infested with black widow spiders.

That discussion led to a little screen print drawing:

Resized

(if I do any more with this idea then next time the spider will be more subtle, orangey-coloured)

Henry Hargreeves

Henry Hargreeves (whose work featured in the NZ herald the other day) is a Kiwi artist who works with food items.
While conceptually simplistic, there are some witty ideas at play and his photo-series are all technically very well executed.

VEGGIES IN SPACE

Fresh food grown in the microgravity environment of space officially is on the menu for the first time for NASA astronauts on the International Space Station. Expedition 44 crew members, including NASA's one-year astronaut Scott Kelly, are ready to sample the fruits of their labor after harvesting a crop of "Outredgeous" red romaine lettuce Monday, Aug. 10, from the Veggie plant growth system on the nation’s orbiting laboratory.

From this article

Here is the official page about the 'Veggie' mission on NASA's website 

Red lettuce...

Documentation week 22: edamame pattern

A result of my conundrum over whether to use green or red prints on the mouse trap works.

Thinking a lot lately about optics, optical illusions, the 'mechanical eye' vs the human eye, printmaking/filmic 'flatness' and 3-dimensionality - i.e. the difference between an x-ray image and actual 3D object being scanned; again the dichotomy of food choices - soy in particular, as a supposed healthy/sustainable superfood and simultaneously a health nightmare and corrupt industry... anyway this is just a drawing really:

that came as a result of these initial patterns:

"Redamame." Hur hur.

Prefaces from Food Player: Design with Taste

Usually I write down select excerpts from my readings, and they are all compiled on a Drive document to quote/reference/use for my essay, but there was too much in these pages for me to isolate anything. So for future reference, here's the lot:

Images from 'Food?' exhibition

Full list of works here.