Refrigerator Illusion

Elia NURVISTA

Indonesia

〈Gastronocene〉, 2021.

Mixed media, Mixed materials, Dimensions variable

NURVISTA is interested and wanted to explore the food system which is increasingly global and capitalistic. It means, almost all the places in the world are inevitably affected by this condition. Either as a site of production or as a consumer market. The harvesting, storaging, packaging, trading and shipping is part of the process of food commodity which involves technology, science and modernity. But it doesn’t mean that these processes are free from exploitation, violence and injustice. Moreover the excesses of imperialism and colonialism are still felt in the traces of the systems that produce food as a commodity, both in nature and labour.
Many countries in the Global South became zones for extraction for the food commodities, from grains, fruits, fish and meat products to support global consumption. Meanwhile there
is a lot of underpaid labour which live under conditions, while the best products go to people in wealthy countries. Going parallel with this, there are a lot of food products marketed in other places of the globe hiding the narration behind. The work Gastronocene seeks to explore the hidden narration behind our daily food which is usually taken for granted.