Shutter.Stutter

Inspirations for the trip, I’ll be carrying both with me :).

Photo by Alessandra Sanguinetti. Made my heart ache first time I saw it.

My local library is awesome - I always find hidden gems tucked away. Last week (hope everyone had a happy Christmas!) I stumbled upon Hungry Planet, photographed by Peter Menzel and written by Faith D’Aluisio.

The premise of this project is simple - a survey of that what the world eats. Menzel and D’Aluisio travelled the globe, interviewing and photographing ’statistically average’ families. Each family was asked to buy a week’s worth of food, to note how much it cost, and to provide their favourite recipes.

Food, be it its over consumption or lack there of, is a global concern, and Menzel and D’Aluisio have created a project that is relevant to everyone. What moves me though, is the stark disparity between what is consumed in developed countries, and of that in developing nation, as well as the homes in which they are photographed.

I first saw these photographs as an exhibition at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco. It was stunning - three floors of minutely detailed wall sized photographs, complete with lengthy descriptions. I think I spent the better part of a day soaking it all up.

Most of the book is available to read for free here, but here’s some images to whet your appetite.

United States: The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week: $341.98
Favorite foods: spaghetti, potatoes, sesame chicken

Japan: The Ukita family of Kodaira City
Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25
Favorite foods: sashimi, fruit, cake, potato chips

China: The Dong family of Beijing
Food expenditure for one week: 1,233.76 Yuan or $155.06
Favorite foods: fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce

Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53
Family recipe: Okra and mutton

Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55
Family recipe: Potato soup with cabbage

Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23
Favorite foods: soup with fresh sheep meat

Everyone likes a bit of statistics…

• Highest expenditure for a week’s worth of food, in US$: the Melander family of 4 (mother, father, two young boys) in Hamburg, Germany spent $500.07 (and none of them are overweight, for what it’s worth!)

• Lowest expenditure: the Aboubakar family of 7 (mother and 6 children ranging from 2 to 16) in a refugee camp in Chad $1.23, plus about $24 worth of homegrown foods (no, none of them are overweight either…neither are they starved.)

• The Kuwait family have an in-house elevator, which everyone takes just to go up one flight of stairs.(Having an elevator in ones house seems to be quite normal.)

• Most families in the ‘developed’ countries spend a big chunk of their food budget on prepared foods, fast food and beverages. For example, the Bainton family in England spent $38.61 of their $253.15 total on drinkables: the Casalese family in Mexico spent $39.07 out of $189.09 total - including 12 1-liter bottle of Coca-Cola.

• The percentage of obese people in Japan is 1.5% of the population for both males and females; in Mongolia only 5% of the male population is obese yet 25% of the female population is. The most uniformly obese country seems to be the U.S. (male/female 32.0%/37.8%), but Egyptian (39.3%) and Kuwaiti (49.2%) women are up there too. (Could have something to do with those elevators…at least in Kuwait.)

You know that fuzzy feeling you get when something spurs you to remember a past moment, one that you would probably never have thought about otherwise? And now that you do remember, it’s going to stay with you forever?

I just got that, from clicking on to this NYTimes article.

It was last spring, when I was on exchange in San Francisco. There was a huge Borders next to the SFSU campus, complete with couches, a coffee shop and wi-fi. I spent many afternoons there, methodically making my way through the photography section. It was there that I discovered Mary Ellen Mark.

One afternoon I found a slim volume tucked away on the bottom shelf. It was KayLynn Deveny’s The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings.

The book is simpe - a photographer befriends an elderly neighbour, and begins to document his life. The result is a book of beautifully sensitive and quiet pictures. I’m in love with it. I regret that I didn’t have the funds then to buy this little gem.

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I went to a book launch last night at the State Library, for Andrew Zukerman’s Wisdom.

It was a good night - an engaging speaker, an incredible project, some breath-taking photography, and a handshake with the author/photographer/film-maker himself - what else can I ask for?

The exhibition will be on until the 16th of November in the Mitchell Wing, and I highly recommend it.

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“For 12 months acclaimed New York photographer and film maker Andrew Zuckerman has travelled the world in search of wisdom.

“Embracing the idea that wisdom is gained from experience, he sought to find, photograph and interview fifty of the world’s most prominent individuals over the age of 65.

“Great writers, actors, artists, politicians, religious leaders, designers, environmentalists, musicians, Nobel Prize-winner, titans, heroes and humanitarians.

“The result: An epic account of the wisdom gained by one generation. A legacy for the generations that follow.”

Here is the trailer for the Wisdom film.