Feast for the Eyes: The Story of Food in Photography

New traveling exhibition at LASM shows that we are what we see in what we eat

These days, “food photography” usually evokes some notion of choosing the perfect filter for your Eggs Benedict or hashtag for your happy hour, but these social media trends are only a snapshot in the medium's rich history. Feast for the Eyes: The Story of Food in Photography, opening this summer at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum, invites viewers to take a look at food through a different lens (or rather, many different lenses) and consider the bigger picture of how we consume food with our sight and mind as well as our mouth and stomach.

Susan Bright and Denise Wolff curate the collection of over a hundred photographs to showcase the different roles food and its images play in our history and culture. The pieces are sourced from diverse genres, from fine art to high fashion to the front page.

“Photographs of food are rarely just about food. They hold our lives and time up to the light. Food can signify a lifestyle or a nation, hope or despair, hunger or excess,” writes Susan Bright in her book of photography that is the basis for the exhibit.

Feast for the Eyes approaches this complexity of meaning from three different angles. “Still Life” traces how that staple of traditional art was reincarnated, evolved, and subverted through food photography. “Around the Table” zooms out to examine more context: how we share food, where, and with whom—and what these rituals can tell us about the world we live in. “Playing With Food” breaks the standard table etiquette with various portrayals of food as flay in addition to nutritional duty.

Art & Science Museum visitors hungry for more on the subject are in luck as well. The museum is hosting two other complementary exhibits this summer: Capitol City Contemporary 4 showcasing food-inspired art from today's local and regional talent, and Food in Space, a look at how we adapted the natural act of eating for the for the needs of the final frontier.

“Food holds special meaning universally; it's no wonder that food has not only remained a viable subject in photography but across all mediums and time periods,” said Chief Curator Elizabeth Weinstein in a press release for the exhibition.

Appropriate, then, that Baton Rouge is only the first stop for Feast for the Eyes. This traveling exhibition, organized by the Aperture Foundation, is slated for an international tour, so don't miss your chance to catch this dynamic anthology of our fascination with food, on display at the Art & Science Museum from June 13 to September 16. For dessert, get your ticket to Art After Hours: A Feast for the Eyes (& All the Senses!) on June 21. This edition of the popular program features a talk by foodie radio host Poppy Tooker, food by local restaurateurs, and more!