Food-landscape
Food-landscape is an art project that uses food as a mindfulness agent to reconnect people to a particular landscape directly with their senses. It is supported by a visual platform inspired by San Diego topography representing 5 topographic and climate regions of our county: beach, coastal, inland, mountain, and desert. Each zone has its own island presenting flavors from that particular region.
Every time I move to a new city, I find myself trying new food. Eating is such an intimate way of coming to know a place. It tells stories about who lives there, what grows there, how the place is connected. Through taste I come to understand what’s happening. The region is alive and constantly changing, and I too become part of the landscape. The experience of taste is fleeting and brings me into the present moment while plants recall a region’s history and culture anew.
The art form is an endeavor to reconnect with the land. The topography offers the opportunity for each spectator to form their own relationship with and to project their imagination onto the land. The laboratory-like setting engages participants to investigate while calling attention to the organic textures and forms. Land is shrunken to make consuming an obvious act.
I feel that we humans are often too close and too small to realize the influence we have on the Earth’s surface which we call home. I imagine that might be how it is for microscopic creatures making an impact on living things. Coming into relation with such changes in perspective we can only realize that we, too, are limited.
I wish that these immersive experiences can be a mindful practice towards connecting with what’s around us which we might have discounted, including other people, animals, plants, and nonliving things. By realizing we are part of the whole, we can make different decisions.
