The 'Spotlight on...' series highlights artists whose work has been collected by the UAL Art Collection.
Harriet Zawedde is a photographic artist, born in Rome and based in London.
She completed her MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at London College of Communication in 2019, and also holds a BA in Social Policy from The University of York as well as an MA in International Public Policy from University College London.
The UAL Art Collection purchased an edition of Harriet’s book, ‘Nightshade, Italian Recipes’, following her graduate show. The book presents botanical and microscopic images of the tomato plant alongside photographic portraits of Italians with their chosen recipes.
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Nightshade, Italian Recipes
Harriet provides a synopsis of the work:
With the rise of the right in Europe and Italy, this work acts as a response to the idea of a static cultural identity and nationality.
Gastro-Nationalism is a form of nationalism manifested through the production and/or economic and cultural capital of food. Examples of this in Italy include a focus on pasta, bread and what was perceived as the ideal ‘Italian diet’ under Mussolini and his brand of futurism. As well as the more recent occurrence of Italian towns banning foreign restaurants from opening within their city walls. Food is one of the great unifiers and dividers of communities.
Nationalists often use myths or co-opt symbols to define their nation’s image. In Italy, the cross, the Virgin Mary, and the idealised family are some of the symbols that have been utilised for a range of political purposes.
For this work, I focus on the tomato as a symbol of Italian cultural identity. A fruit native to the Americas, the tomato is part of the Nightshade family of plants, from which the book gets its name. The Nightshade family includes some of the world’s most familiar vegetables and fruits, as well as one of the most poisonous plants. Within this work, the history of the tomato is used to explore how cultural identities are formed. The story of the tomato acts as an analogy to human experience, involving a journey of migration, intolerance, acceptance and eventual reverence.
Spanning portraiture, botanical imagery and microscopy, the work questions ways of seeing, emphasising the limitations of labelling and categorisation. The recipes provided in the book are both an offering to the viewer and an invitation to consider a different take on the idea ‘we are what we eat’.
You can read more about Harriet's work on her website.
The UAL Art Collection seeks to capture the energy of practice across UAL's many disciplines, and support the work of artists after they have left the University. The Collection dates back to 1987, when the colleges of the University were first brought together, and charts the University's story, and that of its talented students and graduates. You can find further information, as well as view the whole collection which consists of more than 850 works, via the UAL Art Collection catalogue.