Art, Ecology, and Climate: Food Systems

One of several e-museums devoted to ecological and climatological topics, these artworks depict aspects of domestic and global food systems, including food production, processing, distribution, preparation, and consumption practices, in different times and places. Food sustains life and societies. Shared cuisines help define local, regional, indigenous, tribal, and national cultures, and many communities are built around food production and distribution. Because food meets a biological need, access to it tends to reflect and reinforce other kinds of systemic and structural social inequities within and across cultures, and these inequities become more apparent during periods of ecological duress or disaster. The stress on food systems during ecological crises often leads to profound social and political changes. We invite you to reflect critically on how individual works shape ways of thinking and feeling about specific foods and food systems, and especially about how they are ecologically and culturally entangled.

More images related to local and global food systems can be found in other Art, Ecology, and Climate e-Museums, including “Plants and Planting,” “Environmental Justice,” and “Water Use.”