Gelatinous Sculptures: Canned By Kyoko Takemura

Japanese artist Kyoko Takemura delves into the gelatinous truth of canned food goods in the aesthetically appealing, stomach churning series ‘Canned’.

Canned food first appeared in the 19th century, offering convenience, variety, and longevity — but, nutritional benefits? Well, the jury is still out on that one. In ‘Canned’ Takemura sets out to reveal what he calls the “unnatural nature of canned food”. The food in this series was removed from the tins, left to solidify, and then photographed.  By turning them into sculptures, he seems to further push his message on artificiality and processing. “Our quest for efficiency and convenience boosted the development of technology,” Takemura explains. “But the price for the blind cutback on cost and labor remains unfamiliar.” For Takemura, canned goods — whether on a supermarket shelf or in one of his photographs — are a “sculpture shaped by the bottomless desire of humans.”