Zea Mays
Zea Mays
Zea Mays var et samarbeid med mine tidligere medstudenter fra KHIO; Helen Hausland, Samantha Albert, Freja Burgess og Nellie Jonsson. Prosjektet ble vist på Galleri RAM i 2022, med støtte fra Billedkunstnernes Vederlagsfond og Kunstsentrene i Norge.
https://www.ramgalleri.no/zea-mays
Artist Book som PDF: https://www.ramgalleri.no/_files/ugd/177102_fc2fc81bc8454c588098b6a18da4202d.pdf
January 20 – February 26
Opening Thursday January 20, 6-8pm
Noun. 1. Zea mays - tall annual cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears: widely cultivated in America in many varieties; the principal cereal in Mexico and Central and South America since pre-Columbian times. corn, Indian corn, maize. edible corn, corn - ears of corn that can be prepared and served for human food.
The exhibition Zea Mays is a collaborative project between five contemporary craft artists recently graduated from KhiO. Working within different media they developed the works for the exhibition in dialogue with each other in a collective effort to explore camaraderie as a creative foundation. The title of the exhibition refers to the common corn plant and can be understood as a metaphor for a global problem that is increasingly difficult to solve – food shortage and the environmental disasters that are caused by large-scale agroindustry.
16th century Europe faced similar problems. Lack of cultivation areas and diseased crops resulted in constant bouts of famine and demographic chaos as people constantly had to move in search of food and better opportunities. The solution was thought to be found in the new miraculous produce discovered in America, notably potatoes and corn.
Today we face similar challenges, although science is less occupied with finding new sources of food than perfecting already existing ones through genetic modification. This, on the other hand, is causing new ecological threats as well as unforeseen health problems in both the human population and livestock.
Zea Mays reflects on food culture, cultivation and human collaboration from an artistic view point that includes a wide range of media and techniques, such as ceramic, textile and graphics. The exhibition is collectively curated by the artist’s themselves.
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