Hungry Planet National Tour Comes to the UCC Art Gallery
News Release 07-082-D For more information: Release date: 01/09/08 Bentley Gilbert For immediate release (541) 440-7747 http://www.umpqua.edu/
Roseburg— Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, will be shown at the Art Gallery at Umpqua Community College from February 4 to March 10, 2008. Hungry Planet is a fascinating photo essay documenting 12 families from 12 countries, providing a thought-provoking analysis of worldwide food consumption, and examining what we as global citizens share—or lack.
Toured by ExhibitsUSA, a national program of Mid-America Arts Alliance, this exhibition includes interviews with families from Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cuba, Ecuador, Greenland, Italy, Japan, Mali, Mexico, Mongolia, Turkey, and the United States. Hungry Planet was organized by COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts in Napa, California, and will tour though the summer of 2011.
Visitors will experience the exhibition’s 48 color photographs, depicting everything from American drive-thru fast food restaurants and lavishly stocked bakery displays to Cuban food ration cards, waterside markets in Mali, and Ecuadorians cooking in open-air kitchens, which documents sharp contrasts and universal aspects of an essential human pursuit.
Photojournalist Peter Menzel and writer Faith D’Aluisio investigated food and eating habits around the world, documenting a fascinating exploration of comparative world nutrition. For their study, Menzel and D’Aluisio spent time with typical families in each country, discussing their eating habits, calculating a week’s worth of food purchases, and accompanying families to the marketplace to document local customs and traditions.
Enhanced by an overview of each country’s environmental conditions and socio-economic status, Hungry Planet uniquely grasps cross-cultural realities, united by one commonality—all humans must eat, but what and how we eat varies wildly.
In conjunction with the exhibit, the Art Gallery at UCC will sponsor a special preview night for educators on Friday, February 1, from 5:30 – 7:30 pm. Class materials and activity suggestions will be available, and teachers are encouraged to bring their students to the exhibit. Further activities will include an international film festival, featuring films from the countries depicted in the exhibit, and a symposium on food-related issues. Further schedule details will be available by mid-January.
Mid-America Arts Alliance, founded in 1972, is a nonprofit regional arts organization based in Kansas City, Missouri. It is governed by a board of directors drawn from its partner states of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. Major support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, participant state arts agencies, and leading foundations and corporations. Local support for Hungry Planet has been provided in part by the Oregon Community Foundation.
For more information, contact Susan Rochester, Director of Fine Arts, Umpqua Community College at 541.440.4692 or susan.rochester@umpqua.edu.
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