Meat America - a photographic celebration by Dominic Episcopo

Cate Blouke — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 12:30:16 +0000

WTF, by Dominic Episcopo, from Meat America

Dominic Episcopo wants to explain to you "the indefinable adjective that is 'American'." And as far as he's concerned, the best way to do that is with meat. The images are funny, deeply ironic, and often ambiguous given Episcopo's purported mission.

Above, packaged ground beef shaped into the letters "WTF" is surrounded by a variety of fresh vegetables - one of these things is not like the other. The meat seems to be asking questions about processed foods and meat consumption.

Last semester Megan wrote a post about viewer expectation and food art, touching on how food as a medium can move audiences through both desire and disgust. Since Mike's comment on my post about Lady Gaga's meat dress earlier this semester, I've also been thinking about the relationship between images and appetite.

Texas, by Dominic Episcopo, from Meat America

Episcopo's adventures in meat manipulation are ostensibly intended as a celebration of America. As he explains, his project "celebrates our [American's] appetite for insurmountable odds, limitless aspiration, and immeasurable success." Given that Texas holds by far the largest number of cattle (more than 13 million head of the nation's roughly 92 million total in 2011), the Texas-shaped steak makes a lot of sense. It's symbolic of a huge portion of Texas' industry and the immense pride of this state (we're a prime cut, not just ground beef). But, I can't entirely tell if Episcopo's project is meant to be read as ironic. And if meat is American, and America is meat, I'm wondering what exactly that means...

Love, by Dominic Episcopo, from Meat America

Perhaps the clues can be found in the details. In the image above, the ground beef "love" is paired with pretzels, coffee, some sort of packaged dessert bar, and placed next to a newspaper strategically folded to include only "& Death." The sticker's read "U.S.D.A. Choice Beef," and "Family Pak Buy More." Here, as in the image below, the meat industry is linked with mortality - perhaps a nod to the 400,000+ deaths each year from coronary heart disease.

Posing for your eating habits

LaurenMitchell — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 02:43:03 +0000

I’m wondering why the debate over meat-eating and the treatment of animals keeps happening on women’s bodies. This newest addition to the controversy happened on America’s Next Top Model when the contestants were taken to New York’s meat-packing district where they participated in a photo-shoot dressed in various articles of clothing made out of raw meat.

There has been quite a hubbub in response to the episode which aired last week, and it’s not really clear what message Tyra Banks and company were trying to send. PETA’s official statement in response to the episode basically says that they think using raw meat glamorizes the violence and torture of animals. They wish that America’s Next Top Model had dressed their girls up in veggies just like Pamela Anderson did for their ads. A blogger at www.grist.org , an environmentalist blog, thought the images might wake people up to the fact that meat actually comes from somewhere--it doesn’t always look like a pre-packaged hockey puck that waits for you at the grocery store.

Tyra may not have been trying to send any message regarding eating meat. The meat theme is probably a sign that they’re running out of absurd photo-shoot ideas, which is really what the show is based on. However, this would be perfect fodder for Carol J. Adams who looks at how animals-as-food and women are objectified in a very similar way. They are both something to be consumed and something that is asking for that consumption and objectification. I think she’d find that these images illustrate her point beautifully in that both the meat and the women are objectified simultaneously in a way that is very unapologetic about portraying women as purely seductive beings and meat as something to be consumed and butchered.

viz. - meat

Meat America - a photographic celebration by Dominic Episcopo

Posing for your eating habits