for my food for thought class we were assigned to create an illustration representing the four units of our course. The purpose of this action project was to show our understanding through an illustration.
The four moments of food history are life, death, decay and birth. My poster shows each of these moments in four panels, which are diagonal and overlap a bit.
Panel one of my poster depicts the first moment of food history — life — by showing a hunter/gatherer with a fire, which represents life. Before we had the mass production of food, people hunted and gathered for their food. Panel one also shows a tree. A tree symbolizes life because trees live for a long time and although they change each season, they are full of life again every spring. Panel one also shows agriculture in the background by depicting fields of crops. Panel one also shows a bird, which was another source of food for hunters/gatherers.
Panel two of my poster shows the second moment of food history– death — by depicting a truck which represents transportation and travel. The red destination sign (like the one on Google Maps) also represents travel. The truck and the red destination sign also represent mass production, because the truck transports food around the country so that it can be mass produced and distributed. The factory in the background (which is part of Panel Two and Panel Three) shows the environmental impact of industrialization.
Panel three of my poster shows the third moment of food history — decay — by depicting a factory. The sky is green, which shows the pollution that factories make that cause the decay of the environment. The factories are falling apart, which shows decay, due to the pollution. The handle of the shovel in Panel Three is also disintegrating, which represents decay.
Panel four of my poster shows the fourth moment of food history — birth — by depicting a shovel with a new plant on it, which represents birth. The raised beds containing plantings in Panel four show the future of life, where all people have their own gardens in their backyards or on their roofs so that they can grow their own food. This type of sustainable agriculture will be the future of life. The sun in the background represents the future, happy times and new life.