Overview

Artists and the Practice of Agriculture maps out examples of artistic practices that engage with the aesthetics and politics of gathering food, growing edible and medicinal plants, and interacting with non-human collaborators. In the hands of contemporary artists, farming and foraging become forms of visual and material language that convey personal and political meanings. This book provides a critical analysis of artistic practices that model alternative food systems. It presents rich academic insights as well as 16 conversations with practicing artists. The volume addresses pressing issues, such as the interconnectedness of human and other-than-human beings, the weight of industrial agriculture, the legacy of colonialism, and the promise of place-based and embodied pedagogies. Through participatory projects, the artists discussed here reflect on the links between past histories, present challenges, and future solutions for the food sovereignty of local and networked communities. The book is an easy-to-navigate resource for readers interested in food studies, visual and material cultures, contemporary art, ecocriticism, and the environmental humanities.

Full Product Details

9781032527208

Table of Contents

Reviews

""Climate action alarm bells have been ringing for decades and while some people are only now hearing the call, countless artists have been engaged in environmental arts for decades. Through this book, Bottinelli brings critical awareness to a group of artists who have been working through the lens of agriculture. With perceptive essays and a collection of in-depth artist interviews, Bottinelli takes a serious look at how the arts can contribute to understanding and adapting to the challenges our food systems face in a rapidly changing global environment."" -Cameron Cartiere, Professor of Public Art and Social Practice, Emily Carr University of Art and Design

Author Information

Silvia Bottinelli (PhD University of Pisa) is Senior Lecturer and Chair of the Visual and Material Studies Department, School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. Dr. Bottinelli's scholarship focuses on contemporary food-based art as well as twentieth and twenty-first-century Italian art. With Margherita d’Ayala Valva, she co-edited the volume The Taste of Art (2017) and a special issue of Public Art Dialogue on ""Food and Activism in Contemporary Art"" (2018). Dr. Bottinelli also co-edited Lead in Modern and Contemporary Art with Sharon Hecker (2021), and single-authored the book Double-Edged Comforts: Domestic Life in Modern Italian Art and Visual Culture (2021). Dr. Bottinelli’s research has been widely published in edited volumes and scholarly journals such as Art Journal, Modernism/modernity, Public Art Dialogues, Food Studies, Palinsesti, Predella, and Ricerche di Storia dell’Arte. Her scholarship was supported by grants of the Italian Art Society, the Center for Italian Modern Art, the American Philosophical Society, and the Tufts Tisch College Faculty Fellowship, among others. Dr. Bottinelli received an International Award for Excellence from the Food Studies Research Network.

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