Art Exhibition

"The Darkest Valley"

Have you every heard of the term "food desert"? Food deserts are the "geographic areas where residents’ access to affordable, healthy food options is restricted or nonexistent due to the absence of grocery stores within convenient traveling distance” (USDA). In other words, residents in food deserts cannot easily access to affordable, nutritious food because of socio-economic factors. I wanted to bring this issue up because very few people know about food desert and their importance. Learning about food deserts enhance our knowledge about food insecurity and how we can combat food insecurity in a community-level.

One of the characteristics of food desert is the abundance of fast food restaurants and the lack of grocery stores. So, this art piece called "The Darkest Valley" illustrates how easy it is to access to unhealthy food while getting healthy food requires a lot of money and effort.

"On the Way to Market"

This artwork called "On the Way to Market" illustrates the hardships residents in food desert face in order to access to healthy, affordable food options. People with empty shopping baskets are waiting for the pedestrian signals to change so that they can reach to the supermarket. However, there are many obstacles that prevent people from crossing the street, such as pedestrian light with only stop sign and too much traffic. Another key point is the contrast between the supermarket and where people are standing. While supermarket has a cheerful vibe with colorful building and lots of fresh food, the "food desert area" doesn't seem to enjoy the same vibe.

"Confined"

This artwork called "Confined" illustrates a person struggling to escape from the "food desert area." The food can represents food desert area where the access to nutritious food is hard. The person tries to get out of the "confined" area where they feel trapped in unavoidable situation in order to get to the area where fresh food options are abundant. A little interesting part of this artwork is the connection to "The Darkest Valley" on the gold sticker in the middle.

"Behind the Bar"

This artwork called "Behind the Bar" illustrates a person who is trapped behind the imaginary bar-code that prevent a person from buying fresh food. A person is looking at various fresh food options as they are reflected in her eyes. However, the bar-code, which represents the price of food, hinders her from reaching out to food. The numbers on the bottom can be understood in two ways: extremely high price of healthy food or the number of food insecure people in America.

"Chasing Hope"

This artwork called "Chasing Hope" depicts people living in food deserts and their struggles to get fresh food. The truck indicates lack of fresh food outlets and low accessibility in food deserts community. Even more, existing fresh food stores are closing out in food desert communities due to the lack of support. However, everyone needs and deserves fresh food to maintain good health and lifestyles. Therefore, this art piece calls for the need of fresh food outlets and more food options to every food desert.

"Who Killed This Person?"

Food desert is the neighborhood where the access to nutritious and affordable food is limited. The room refers to the feeling of being confined that food desert residents feel due to the limited access to supermarkets or fresh foods. At the same time, the furniture, such as the sofa and lamp, imply that such non-nutritious foods are prevalent throughout the food desert. These foods can ultimately turn into weapons, as shown in the French fries knife and hot dog hammer, which symbolizes an unhealthy environment for food desert residents. All of these factors are presented as a crime scene where the audience can realize various factors in food deserts can be a threat to food desert residents.

"Our Foods"

These are the foods we normally encounter in daily lives, ranging from healthy produce to sweet treats. Eating little chocolates or candies brings us joy, while creating a meal using various produce brings us together with family and happiness. Various foods play important roles in our life, both emotionally and culturally. As I am passionate about raising food security for everyone, I want to spread food appreciation and inform how we can introduce such joy to those who are excluded.