Putting it all on the table in New York, NY

Putting It All on the Table features 25 artists from 12 countries. Curated by Kevin O'Callaghan, department faculty member and chair of 3D Design. In this exhibition, each artist was given a wooden table as a platform on which to present unique cultural perspectives regarding the global issue of food.

According to MFA Design for Social Innovation Chair Cheryl Heller, “Food is a primary concern for everything that lives, regardless of where it is on the food chain. Food systems and food safety are central to social innovation and essential to solving issues of poverty, health, economics, justice and environment. ‘Putting it all on the table’ is an expression that means to be completely transparent and forthright. In terms of communication, it means not holding back on the real issues.”

My project 

Unreachable: Accessing food is a difficult and dangerous undertaking in many underdeveloped nations.
The main theme integrated in this assignment is the accessibility of nutrition in underdeveloped countries. Accessing food is already a difficult undertaking in these underdeveloped nations. The barbed wire depicts the difficulty of obtaining the food in these countries as well as the potential dangers because of the sharpness of the wires. The plate portrays the absence of food in these states. Furthermore, the table’s function is to illustrate the essential message which is “unreachable.” The table itself is meaningless, yet it serves as a way to show this ideology in these countries in an effective way due to the actual support a wooden table has. It has been reversed to show that it is hopeless.