Alana Garrigues

When They Feast, We Eat

Inspired by: Jules Aarons, West End Meat Market Matt Siber, McDonalds Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

acrylic gouache on canvas

16″ x 20″

2023

Looking at the FAM artwork, I was struck by how separated the act of eating and feasting was from the environment and the way our food grows. The study of strawberries looked the most wholesome and brightly colored, and I thought of the pollinators and land necessary to grow them. In my own garden, I plant a floral feast to attract and entertain bees and butterflies so I may eat. This is in stark contrast to the cold industrial McDonald’s sign. Butterflies and bees as symbols of migration and workers, “they” is also a political call for equitable human rights.

@alanaofloveandlight

Alana Garrigues

Precedented II

mixed media: acrylic ink, ink, chalk pastel on reclaimed plywood

23.25″ x 24″

Nov. 2021 – Jan. 2022

Precedented II is a tongue-in-cheek title and piece, inspired by a small work of art I created in 2020, the year of ‘unprecedented.’ In both, I was reflecting on the cyclical nature of history, and all of the pandemics, political unrest, civil rights movements and more that the trees have witnessed and we humans are prone to forget. Each ring of a tree reflects a year of life, and in that ring entire histories of air quality, water, soil, heat, and more are written. What else do the trees remember as precedented that we treat as brand new?

@alanaofloveandlight