Gallery

Mutato Project — Uli Westphal

German photographer Uli Westphal enjoys finding foods that don’t conform to the standards of our commercial food system. His photographing of fruit, vegetable and root oddities began in 2006 and continues today. We are the beneficiaries. You can see more of Uli’s collection on his site. Best of all, you can buy a fabulous print to support his work.

Dumpster Treasures — Secret Freegan

“Secret Freegan” is a Phoenix resident who recovers food from grocery store dumpsters and donates it to those in need.  Inspired by the 2/28/08 episode of Oprah, Secret Freegan has been recovering food for needy families and various shelters since March of 2008. In that time, she estimates she has donated $45,000 worth of food to the hungry.

After Secret Freegan began peering into grocery dumpsters, she could not believe the huge amount of fresh food tossed. (The supermarkets refuse to donate many of these goods because of unfounded liability fears, though much of it is that day’s fresh food.) What she found exceeded what her family and friends could eat, so she called shelters to see if they were interested in receiving her dumpster-found donations. Many were.

Making several daily trips–to prevent food from rotting in the Arizona heat–Secret Freegan has documented the wasted food with hundreds of photographs and a few videos that you can see at her site, Save The Food. Also, you can follow her on Twitter. The below photos are all items she has recovered from supermarket dumpsters:

Forgotten Food — Pantelis Korovilas

Photographer Pantelis Anastasios Korovilas, 19, hails from Clinton, Iowa and is finishing up a graphic arts program at Clinton Community College. The photos below are part of his ongoing exhibit, Project +. Here, he describes his work:

Through the use of photographs, Project+ is the study of human nature, the increasing amount of food produced and wasted in this country and the unnecessary rise of poverty associated with it.

As the leading contributors to global warming, we add to the problem by dumping an estimated $31 billion worth of food into American landfills. My generation has been born into this “throw-away” society. It has become, for most of us, part of our culture and it is hard to swim against the current or change old habits. We were born with our eyes closed.

My goal is for this to be an ongoing project, to be more than just art, but a cause and a means of reaching out to the public, to my generation. We will someday be the owners of local businesses or part of the 30 million people going hungry in this country. It is time to open our eyes.

For more information, visit his Web site or e-mail: pakorovilas at hotmail.com