James Hopkins, The Last Chord, 2006. inspired by "Vanitas".
1) Vanitas were a trendy painting movement in the 17th century. It was immensely popular in Holland and the Netherlands and a little in Paris. The idea comes from a concept and Hebrew word, "hevel" which may or may not have been misunderstood and evolved into Vanitas, which means "vanity". But the Hebrew word is often associated in meaning with "vapor painting". The popular style of painting often included objects of poetic reference to mortality, the brevity of existence and are akin to the concept of "memento mori" = remember you are mortal. Some of the painting still life objects would include, mirrors, bubbles, musical instruments, skulls, hourglasses, burning candles, decaying fruit, flowers, smoke, all reminders of the transience of life.
2) Will Paint For Food blog, just foud this, how cool is this painter!!!
3) Why we don't eat people? "..the larger a state's population grows, the greater the amount of surplus production, and the bigger the tax and tribute base, the more powerful the governing class becomes. Large-scale killing and eating of captives would thwart the governing class's interest in expanding its tax and tribute base. Since captives can produce a surplus, far better to consume the p[roducts of their labour than the flesh of their bodies, especially if the meat and milk of domesticated animals (not available to most band-and-village people) are part of the surplus. In contrast, band-and-village societies are incapable of producing large surpluses, lack a military and political organization that is capable of uniting defeated enemies under a central government, and have no have no governing class that stands to benefit from taxation. For band-and-village societies, the military strategy that most benefits the victors, therefore, is to lower the pressure of population on resources. Because of their low productivity, band-and-village societies cannot derive long-term benefits from capturing enemy personnel. Since captives cannot usually produce a surplus, bringing one home to serve as a slave simply means one more mouth to feed. Killing and eating captives is the predictable outcome; if captive labor cannot yeaild a surplus, captives are worth more as food than as producers of food." Marvin Harris.
4) Food rituals of fasting in various religions seem to be born from agricultural societies. Likely the religious practice of lent and fasting for Ramadan are born out of food rationing in the lean months before growing season. Napoleans army would practice fasting as a form of food rationing.
5) Why do we eat junk food? Junk food, which I define as having no or trace amounts of nutrtional properties is enjoyed by so many people, why? Noodles and potato chips and a slice of bread have almost no nutrition. In fact the nutritional value of a slic of bread has been added in the processing factories that manufacture flour, they add synthetic vitamin B and iron. Neither of which the body absorbs and assimilates easily. So why do we eat a bag of chips or a bowl of noodles? I think, it's because it is predictable...and therefore, comforting. We can eat it especially whe we are feeling depressed and tired. Most people do not have a sense of craving or adventure when they are depressed or tired. So eating a bowl of noodles or a slice of bread...with pedestrian toppings added is not a risk. We believe we can relax when we eat such mellow (safe, nonthreatening) predicatable foods, and they are cheap. Sad stressed out people are afraid to spend money and take care on themselves, they don't feel worthy.
6) The Economics of Junk Food Very interesting site to click on. For example:
12 cents goes for packaging
17 cents pays for the advertising and promotion
55 cents goes for processing and profit-markup
6 cents is for additives, preservatives and colorings
10 cents is for the actual food in the product
7) In some sects in India, particularily Hindus, the cow is taboo for eating of it's meat. At first we may see art and stories which support a supernatural treatment of the cow as sacred. But also, we may notice...a cow is a useful plowing tool for growing vegetables, and a cow provides milk, an excellent source of protein. In protein compromised society it makes much more economic sense to use the cow as a plow and milk protein source, than to butcher it for meat as a one time food source. Milk can provide protein for many years. The meat of a cow, for a few weeks or months.
8) Karen Gordon-Grube of the Free University of West Berlin points out that anthropoligists have been so preoccupied with seeking evidence of institutionalized cannibalism among "primitives" that they have overlooked a well-documented cannibal tradition that flourished in their own back yard. From the sixteenth to eigtheenth century, medical textbooks in England and on the Continent recommended the use of "mummy"-"a medicicinal preparation of the remains of an embalmed, dried, or other "prepared" human body that had ideally met with a sudden, preferably violent death. London pharmacies kept this cure-all in stock, but for high-quality products, physicians recommended that it be purchased at a mummy shop. from Our Kind by Marvin Harris.
9) Some religions and countires (like Scotland in 18th century) forbid eating pork. The modern urban myth says this is because of a potential disease like trichinisis enforced the taboo. Nope, the ratio of meat yeilded to the damage pigs tdo to riverside growth and land is not worth the expensis. Pigs tear up land mass, especially beside rivers and so the amount of meat they provide does not justify the cost of raising pigs for food.
10)...Food and Religion
Cornelia Parker, Thirty Pieces, smashed silverware by industrial press.11) This artists work which I recently have been looking at, is often relating to prosaic items, domestic and food.
13) Robe worn by Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby. I did not realize when I posted and was writing here today, that the meme "Thursday Thirteen" is being discontinued and disappearing, ironically this post is a little about art and the impermanence of life. I have really enjoyed the expereince of participating in a meme and it worked as a good format for exploring some of my ideas and hunches. I will miss running around and reading other peoples often funny 13 lists of things. The pendulum swings in blogland as in real life though doesn't it?
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