Kristin Soh

Week 13 Food Metamorphosis Project Reflection

For my studio led by Alex, we were given the theme, food metamorphosis. For this task, we are required to explore the transformation of food within a series of at least 12 designed and image based cards. The project had a really open brief which I liked. 

The reading references given in the brief were all about surrealism, thus that was my starting point. From surrealism, I sort of linked it to Alice in the Wonderland which were influential to some Surrealist like Salvador Dali. Alot of elements in the story are also categorized under surrealism. These includes strange creatures (Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, etc), illogical sequences and comments. 

From there, I immediately linked Alice’s body transformation after consuming food and drinks to the studio topic, Food metamorphosis. On thing led to another and I finally settled on alcohol effects on our mind.

The process of creating the cards was then the struggle for me. Coming from an Architectural course, I never had to illustrate an entire artwork based Photoshop and Illustrator. Sketching out the cards was the easiest part. However, I had to watch countless youtube tutorials and experiment with the tools just to come up with the most efficient way to digitize the sketches. It was a struggle, but I eventually got there. 

However, I did take too long to do the first half of the cards. Two weeks before submission day, I still had 5 more cards(brain cards) to do. I experimented with different ways I can portray the cards but it didn’t turn out as I expected. The 2D drawings of the brain just made the entire series too flat. This further took more time. The light bulb moment was when I was reading through my old Tumblr posts. My week 4 pretty sweet post talked about Dinara Kasko and how she applied her architectural design skills into pastry making. This is when I decided to use an Architectural software to model out the brain, giving more dimension to the cards. This also took lesser time for me to do. From there, it was just adding text to the cards, which was also pretty simple to do. 

All in all, the entire process, even thou tedious, was a huge learning journey for me. I would like to think that my learning curve has gone up several levels. I learned how to properly digitize line art on illustrator, how to colour in my work while adding dimension. I am pretty satisfied with the final outcome. 

I guess next in line for me would to be come up with my art style and strengthen it. This would shorten the research process a lot. I would definitely keep working on that during the holidays.

Food Culture Project

Drinking tea is a part of our life in my family, it is showing the moment when tea leaves are put in boiling water, from dry to wet, from fold to unfold, from compressed to blooming, from clear to colored… Now, this moment is frozen in these tea bags. The teaspoon is used as a handle here, the box is covered by a bamboo curtain splint, both of them are the representative of traditional tea culture in China.

NOSHTALGIA - FINAL PROJECT

ON THE GO VIETNAM

Growing up as a Vietnamese-Australian, I have always felt a strong connection to Vietnamese food culture despite never physically being there. This is much because of the Vietnamese food that my mum still cooks at home as well as the multicultural and fusion food culture I have experienced growing up in Melbourne.

In my final project, I have put a contemporary take to presenting the traditional flavours of Vietnam through a travel pack of uniquely Vietnamese garnishes and seasonings. For me, as much as these ingredients symbolise the tastes that remind me of Vietnam, the whole essence of Vietnamese culture within Melbourne is in the experience itself of being able to experiment and use these flavours in new and exciting ways in other food. 

Compod is a self composting seedling sourced from Worrabinda farm and celebrates the country food culture of the Mallee region. The aim is is portay the closed loop systems that most of the farmers in this area use. This systems means the produce pulled from the earth will eventually be reintroduced as compost; there is no waste. The Compod has been woven from avocado dyed cotton, cardboard string and avocado skin giving the Compod the blend of nitrogen and carbon it needs to break down and fertilise the earth. The logo is made up of symbols typically found in a permaculture design plan and links to the plan of my family farm in the Mallee. These symbols are featured in the swing tag and gives the audience an understanding about the impact that the Compod can make on their lives from planting to sharing the harvest it will yield in the future.

Creative Food Arts - Yaratıcı Gıda Sanatı by Mundane Matters

and…. the Final Design!!! | My Final Nasi Lemak recipe book :)

Food as love, food as culture