For 8 months I lived in this 5th story walk up. There wasn’t a kitchen. Rather, there was a very basic kitchen; a one-burner hotplate and a microwave with a grill function. All we ate was roast chicken, eggs, and haricot verts. This feels like rationed food. Everytime I walk into a supermarket it feels like they are rationing our food in these little packages.
It’s interesting to know the story of packaging. It began with the Scottish army. Quickly it was understood the power of imagery and labels in packaging. Now, all we buy is a bit of food in a package. It’s not the food, it’s the package. There is a huge economy behind packaging and it’s creating a big pile of trash on the planet…
As the strikes and the gilet jaunes break the French economy — because believe me they are destroying, it big time — I have begun teaching English in elementary schools. For years I’ve taught English to French kids on a private basis. But this is different. All my artist friends everywhere are in the same situation. We artists are the end of the food chain and we are all at a turning point because the Western World economy is breaking.
Why am I telling you this? Because on my lunch break I go to the grocery store cafe and draw stuff. Thus haricots verts in a box.
Angie Brooksby-Arcangioli 