Grown this way – Imperfection Studies

Vienna, AT

2019

“It has to look fresh, smooth, and evenly shaped.” What is reminiscent of the requirements for perfect skin in a model casting is FFV-10, the UN regulation for carrots.

 

Food waste is one of the major sustainability challenges we face. A high percentage of the food produced never reaches the shop shelf or our table because it does not meet the predefined standards. Stained or wrinkled skin on natural products is perceived as imperfect or disgusting.

 

We can observe similar behavior towards the human body. What is not perceived as the norm is less accepted. Many people at different stages of life experience discrimination for a variety of reasons.

 

GROWNthisway challenges these norms and invites the viewers to approach diversity from a new perspective.

 

The project was exhibited at Vienna Design Week, 2019

MAIN SUJET

In this series I juxtapose “unusual” foods with images of people with unusual “shapes, characteristics or people in unconventional poses”. The radical contrast makes our standardization mania concerning food – as well as discriminatory body ideals – visible and questions our perception and consumer behavior in an artistic way.


The food and bodies blur in color with the background. This forces the viewer to take a closer look and engage with the subjects. The project deliberately follows an aesthetically appealing visual language, as the artist is convinced that disgust and shock usually evoke a feeling of helplessness and rigidity, while “appealing images”

are more likely to evoke positive feelings and thus a desire to take action.

"GROWN this way" visualizes both our obsession with norms for foods and how they are wasted, and discriminatory physi­cal ideals.
"GROWN this way" visualizes both our obsession with norms for foods and how they are wasted, and discriminatory physi­cal ideals.
"GROWN this way" visualizes both our obsession with norms for foods and how they are wasted, and discriminatory physi­cal ideals.
"GROWN this way" visualizes both our obsession with norms for foods and how they are wasted, and discriminatory physi­cal ideals.
"GROWN this way" visualizes both our obsession with norms for foods and how they are wasted, and discriminatory physi­cal ideals.

PROJECT VIDEO

What happens if you invite people to a safe space and allow them to freely tell their story? This video invited some of the project’s models to tell their stories and views on prejudices and exclusion from different angles and experiences.

 

Director, camera, editing: Nicola von Leffern

Producer: Amina Stella Steiner