“A few years ago, I asked family, friends, neighbors, and anyone else I could convince to save their trash for a week and then lie down and be photographed in it. I figured, it’s hard to ignore the problem of garbage when you’re lying in it! I included recyclables in these portraits because they illustrate a fundamental change in our relationship to food. We’ve grown dependent on the industries of eating and cooking and the result has been a massive increase in waste. I wondered, how are diets impacted by this revolution in the way food is produced and consumed? What if we keep a journal of everything we eat and drink for one week to bring our focus onto diet and health and take ownership of the foods we eat? Beginning with kids made sense because eating habits start young. If you don’t get it right when you’re 9 or 10, it’s going to be a lot harder when you’re older.
In 2016, I began making my way around the world, photographing children surrounded by the foods they eat in one week. I’ve found that we’re at a tipping point. The balance of what most kids eat is dramatically tipping away from homemade stews and vegetables towards ultra-processed packaged foods and snacks, many of them designed to appeal to children. Still, I’ve been encouraged to find regions and communities where home cooked meals remain the bedrock of family and culture and where love and pride are sensed in the aromas of stews and curries. The more we prepare our own meals from whole foods, the less trash we generate which is not only pleasing to the eye but easy on the environment. There’s an old adage, “The hand that stirs the pot rules the world.” When the hand stirring the pot is more concerned with profit than in our well-being or the well-being of the planet, it’s time we insist on healthier options and whenever possible, stir our own pots.”
– Gregg Segal
Artist Bios
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Gregg Segal
Gregg Segal studied photography and film at California Institute of the Arts (BFA) dramatic writing at New York University (MFA) and education at The University of Southern California (MA). Segal’s photography has been recognized by American Photography, Communication Arts, PDN, Investigative Reporters and Editors, The New York Press Club, the Society of Publication Designers, Lens Culture, and the Magnum Photography Awards. Segal’s portraiture and photo essays have been featured in Time, GEO, Smithsonian, The Independent, Le Monde, Fortune, National Geographic Adventure and Wired, among others. His first monograph Daily Bread was published by Powerhouse Books in 2019 and a German edition of Daily Bread followed in 2020. This summer, Daily Bread was shown at The Dom Museum, Vienna as part of their exhibition The Meal while Segal’s companion project, 7 Days of Garbage, was published in The Evidence Project: A Book to Protect the Planet.
Organizations
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The Seaport
The Seaport is New York City’s original neighborhood, a maritime hub of history, culture, entertainment, and dining, located along the East River in Lower Manhattan. The neighborhood celebrates emerging and resident artists, local organizations, and community connectivity through its curated events & activations, including its public art program, Seaport Arts.
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Photoville
Founded in 2011 in Brooklyn, NY, Photoville was built on the principles of addressing cultural equity and inclusion, which we are always striving for, by ensuring that the artists we exhibit are diverse in gender, class, and race.
In pursuit of its mission, Photoville produces an annual, city-wide open air photography festival in New York City, a wide range of free educational community initiatives, and a nationwide program of public art exhibitions.
By activating public spaces, amplifying visual storytellers, and creating unique and highly innovative exhibition and programming environments, we join the cause of nurturing a new lens of representation.
Through creative partnerships with festivals, city agencies, and other nonprofit organizations, Photoville offers visual storytellers, educators, and students financial support, mentorship, and promotional & production resources, on a range of exhibition opportunities.
For more information about Photoville visit, www.photoville.com
Daily Bread
Featuring: Gregg Segal
Locations
View Location Details The South Street Seaport19 & 23 Fulton Street, as well as windows on the corner of Fulton & Front Streets
New York, NY 10038
