Yarn Bombing the Food System, Wool on Grocery Items, 2018

ARTIST STATEMENT

Fiber artists have joined with graffiti artists in a form of public soft sculpture called yarn bombing. The nature of street art is to challenge and invite discourse about relevant and social issues. I am excited and moved by this kind of art and I endeavor to do the same.

 I am interested in the effects of our food system and the atrocities that are hidden within it. Following the process of a seed planted in the soil, to the product found in the aisles of the supermarket, and the choices we make in purchasing food, there are innumerable issues that are plagued with a lack of awareness. Many of these problems are the product of large industrialized farming. I believe we should be conscious of the challenges present in the system such as the farmer’s poor working conditions, the effects of malnutrition, and the environmental impact our actions are causing. My yarn bomb piece is intended to highlight the results of ignorant food consumerism in our society. Consequently, I have taken the discipline of dyeing my own yarn with 100% homegrown or handpicked plants to provide a viewpoint to look at food through the same lens.

This piece is a collection of different yarn bombs on everyday food items, calling attention to our thoughtless consumerism. The photographs show the covered groceries in the store, providing the instance of where my social commentary reaches the public sphere. In the juxtaposition of the local and natural dyes upon these mass-produced items, I hope to highlight the disparity between a conscious understanding of what we consume, and the careless expectation of access we have to food.