Food For Thought
Blum Gallery / Group Show
Bar Harbor ME
Sustainability is a wide-open realm that includes a lot of issues. I started off thinking about creating art for this conference with a bit of an attitude and a pre-conceived notion of what my take on this theme would be. You see I have this over arching theory that the military industrial complex drives everything or at least touches on everything in some way. I have been creating art that explores this theory for the past 8 years or so. Right off the bat, before I did any research or for that matter before I had even known what the title of this exhibit/ conference would be, I conceived of a motif of women and guns, as some kind of mixture of nourisher/defender. I admit that I am puzzled and thrown off base by women who embrace military careers and in terms of agriculture I am susceptible to the stereotype that women are the providers of nourishment. The two, women and guns seemed an uneasy mix and thus a good motif to explore. My subsequent internet research turned up some interesting knowledge; lot’s of violence associated with agriculture around the world and over the years. My theory seems to be holding up well unfortunately; from the violence of the Green Revolution in India, with it’s Sikh & Hindu battles and Bhopal pesticide disaster to the uneasy stirrings of tribal in-fighting relating to U.S. agriculture ventures in the Sudan, it seems that one cannot begin to think about developing sustainable agriculture without questioning the role of politics and national interests, which, inevitably are backed by military might. The answers to problems of sustainable agriculture are clear for all to see and learn about, it is their implementation, and political will that will need to be overcome.
August 2009
Bar Harbor ME
Sustainability is a wide-open realm that includes a lot of issues. I started off thinking about creating art for this conference with a bit of an attitude and a pre-conceived notion of what my take on this theme would be. You see I have this over arching theory that the military industrial complex drives everything or at least touches on everything in some way. I have been creating art that explores this theory for the past 8 years or so. Right off the bat, before I did any research or for that matter before I had even known what the title of this exhibit/ conference would be, I conceived of a motif of women and guns, as some kind of mixture of nourisher/defender. I admit that I am puzzled and thrown off base by women who embrace military careers and in terms of agriculture I am susceptible to the stereotype that women are the providers of nourishment. The two, women and guns seemed an uneasy mix and thus a good motif to explore. My subsequent internet research turned up some interesting knowledge; lot’s of violence associated with agriculture around the world and over the years. My theory seems to be holding up well unfortunately; from the violence of the Green Revolution in India, with it’s Sikh & Hindu battles and Bhopal pesticide disaster to the uneasy stirrings of tribal in-fighting relating to U.S. agriculture ventures in the Sudan, it seems that one cannot begin to think about developing sustainable agriculture without questioning the role of politics and national interests, which, inevitably are backed by military might. The answers to problems of sustainable agriculture are clear for all to see and learn about, it is their implementation, and political will that will need to be overcome.
August 2009
