The Sandwich Story
The Sandwich Story exhibition will take you on a visual journey of one woman’s quest to find out WHERE do sandwiches really come from.
Lisa Fingleton is an artist, filmmaker, writer and grower who was inspired by a BLT sandwich to illustrate the journey of one sandwich and all its ingredients, uncovering some surprising discoveries along the way.
Lisa uses drawing as a tool to understand the world around her and to explore solutions for big challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Her work invites us to imagine the possibilities and potential for the world we want to see.
The Sandwich Story cleverly illustrates the impact mass food production has on our environment and makes us think about the humble sandwich and its journey with every bite. This original drawing was recently purchased by the Crawford Gallery for the National Collection. See Lisa drawing a version of the Sandwich Project on the wall of the Crawford Gallery in the video below. For more information check out The Sandwich Project project page.
Bookville Exhibition
The Sandwich Story exhibition is commissioned and curated by Kilkenny Arts Office as part of the Bookville Festival and is located in the Kilkenny County Council exhibition space on John Street, Kilkenny. R95 V992
The exhibition will be open for schools and the general public from 10am to 5pm on October 5th to 18th & 3pm to 5pm on the 12th /13th /14th October. The exhibition will be self-guided, if you would like to bring your class, please book in advance by emailing deirdre.southey@kilkennycoco.ie.
http://www.bookvillekilkenny.com/exhibition.html
Did Children Really Eat Food Grown in Dirt?
“Lisa Fingleton has loved drawing since she was a child. With a wry humour she imagines children in 2050 being horrified that food was actually grown in soil as they drink multi vit shots and get their nourishment through vitamin pills. Her work invites us to imagine the possibilities and potential for the world we want to see. She invites us to bring our imagination and creativity to every situation”.
- How far does your sandwich travel before it reaches you?
- How many ingredients make up your average sandwich?
- How much of your sandwich is made up of ‘real food’ and how much it is manufactured ingredients, made to taste like ‘real food’?
- How many planes, boats and trucks are involved?
- How many women, men and children are involved in picking vegetables and minding animals around the world?
- What conditions do the animals live in?
- Is there really such a thing as ‘cheap food’?
Artist Lisa Fingleton lives on a farm in Kerry and grows most of her own food. A few years, she was hungry while installing an exhibition. She picked up a BLT sandwich in a petrol station and while she was eating, she read the packaging. She couldn’t believe that there were over 40 ingredients listed including such things as Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, xanthum gum, emulsifier and stabilisers. She started to think about the journey of a sandwich and where all these ingredients come from.
According to the artist “It felt like this sandwich connected me to so many places, people, plants and animals from all over the planet. I started to think about the energy needed to bring this sandwich to me; all the electricity, fuel and water. I had been to Borneo and seen the destruction of the rainforest with palm oil plantations and here was palm oil in my sandwich”.
Lisa started to draw the journey of the sandwich and all the different processes involved. She also started facilitating workshops and conversations with community groups. “I love food and hope the sandwich project encourages people to have a better appreciation of clean, healthy food. There really is no such thing as ‘cheap’ food. Someone, somewhere is paying the price in terms of poor conditions for workers, crowded conditions for battery hens or health implications for the consumers of processed foods”.
The Sandwich Project was originally showcased at VISUAL, Carlow in summer 2018, co- curated with Steven Alwyn. Images: Ros Kavanagh.
In 2022 the Crawford Gallery commissioned the artist to recreate the Sandwich project as part of the new Meat and Potatoes Exhibition incorporating current issues relating to the war in Ukraine, Brexit and climate change.
The Sandwich Project featured on the new RTE series called Food Matters: Follow the Seasons. Series presenter and GIY founded Mike Kelly visited Lisa at her studio at The Barna Way to discuss the 30 Day Local Food Challenge and The Sandwich Project.
The Sandwich Project feature in Lisa’s book The Local Food Project which can be purchased here: https://lisafingleton.com/product/the-local-food-project/
Community, schools and teacher/artist workshops
