Bread and Butter

Iain Baxter&, Ron Benner, Carole Condé and Karl Beveridge, Christian Jankowski, Cole Swanson

Curated in collaboration with Barbara Fischer

September 13, 2012–May 15, 2013

Produced in Collaboration with the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery
Presented at the Jackman Humanities Institute

Today most of the food-energy consumed by the world population is supplied by food industries. Multinational corporations apply intensive farming and industrial agriculture toward maximum system output and profit. The exhibition Bread and Butter brings together artists whose works addresses the complex relationships between labour, sustenance, industrial food production, and the increasing impact of globalization on the availability and dissemination of food.

Toronto artists Carole Condé and Karl Beveridge’s photographic series presents an eloquent account of the harsh experience of migrant farmers in Ontario and the destructive impact of industrial farming, while Cole Swanson’s miniature paintings depict roadside emblems that identify regional communities by agricultural and natural resources. London-based artist Ron Benner’s installation is based on his extensive research into indigenous cultivations of corn and other staples, and finds their migration rooted in the trajectories of colonialism and imperialism. Based in Windsor, Ontario, Iain Baxter&’s singular picture highlights the year-round, global availability of exotic foods in the depths of Canadian winter; and German artist Christian Jankowski’s video suggests the alienation from food production, where hunting and gathering has migrated from the wild to bargain-hunting in the supermarket.

Concerned with seed circulation and farming methods, local community and globalization, each artist in the exhibition provides a unique and critical perspective on essential elements of contemporary food systems.