Exposing fast food propaganda

IN YOUR FACE: Gisborne photographer Drew Hill’s photographic prints of a cross-section of New Zealanders on burger wrappers as a statement about the fast food culture and obesity epidemic will be exhibited at a Hong Kong gallery next month. Picture by Paul Rickard

NEW Zealand’s fast food culture is in the frame for a selection of photographic prints Gisborne photographer Drew Hill will exhibit in Hong Kong next month.

Fast food wrappers, some with “takeaway DNA” still stuck to them, provide a waxy canvas for Drew’s prints.

“The wrappers you see on the road are fast food corporations’ propaganda. You think you have more choice now but we don’t. We are bombarded by ads for fast food.”

Drew recalls the day when takeaways were a treat and junk food outlets were less commonplace.

Now it is embedded in our culture, he says. While we have more choices in food, consumers’ choices are often forced by price.

“Takeaways used to be a special thing. Now people can’t afford to buy real vegetables and healthy food but can spend $5 and get a feed of burger, fries and a sundae.

“People are designing this stuff. Corporations are killing generations with fast food.”

Given the obesity epidemic in New Zealand, burger wrappers should be printed with health warnings as seen in tobacco products, he says.

In China, consumers can buy pizza with a chicken base, toppings and burgers around the edge of the crust.

“How is that food? How are you meant to burn that stuff off?”

Drew uses a range of wrappers to print his photographic images of a cross-section of people. A Maori man’s face appears on a Subway wrapper and a series of other wrappers feature bodybuilders in meat chillers.

In these prints Drew explores the idea that people’s muscles are made of meat. He is also intrigued by what could be perceived as a an inclination towards masculinity in women bodybuilders and the opposite in male body-builders, with their tans, shaved bodies and skimpy togs.

Hill’s photographic prints will be exhibited at the Boom Gallery in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong from February 12.