Sydney Dahle
sydneydahle.com
“You Are What You Eat” series features a multidisciplinary selection of works that speak the visual language of food and eating processes to consider Western society’s contemporary urge to consume. The works on display engage with feminist considerations about the consumption of the female body in media and advertising. Fragments of chewed food are collaged over female figures seductively posed to sell products to consider the consequences of the objectification and sexualization of the female body on the individual and society as a whole. The imagery of chewed food additionally raises issues of eating and dieting habits, eating disorders and the systemization of food consumption. The implications of chewed food composing the body raise contrasting associations of health and illness, seduction and repulsion; through these juxtapositions, layers of meaning are embedded into the content of the series.
About
I’m a Winnipeg-born interdisciplinary artist pursuing a BFA honours degree at the University of Manitoba. My practice strongly focuses on painting and collage and, in recent years, explores extending the use of painting beyond the canvas. Having discovered a passion for art in my early twenties, my technique continues to develop during my education at the University of Manitoba. My practice aims to observe and question contemporary culture, and as a female navigating a male-dominated society, I regularly consider my content through a feminist/ female-based lens. Regular topics that emerge in my art are consumption-based behaviour and habits, the image of the female body in media and advertising, and the influence of social media and the digital age.