As a means of managing the scope of my Basement Archeology project, and making the work a little more relatable, I’ve decided to narrow the focus along a food theme. This approach will allow me to contrast then and now. Yet even within this refinement there are many topics that each in themselves could be a project: how food itself has changed; its production; preparation; the tools used; consumption; gender roles related to food; as well as its association with certain events and rituals. We’ll see what sticks.
Food is something that we can all relate to and so I hope this approach will provide a means for viewers to recall their own memories and relationships.
I start this journey with a more literal interpretation, combining foods and light using a still life style. This style has a long history that complements the theme of looking back.
As an aside, I’m using background objects (and in some cases light and shadow) to define different spaces, which is something I will incorporate to the best of my abilities as I go forward. In this case, the space defined by the circular cutting board separates the fruit from the space defined by the wooden block below it. How this is interpreted is up to the viewer, how I use this technique will evolve over time. However, at this point I suspect the distinction of spaces has to do with the separation between past and present, yet since all the spaces co-exist within the space defined by the frame there might be some suggestion of the co-existence of past and present, if not only through the artifacts that we receive from then.
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