Foodprint photography exhibition highlights Mediterranean Diet

A travelling photography exhibition and cross-media project begins its journey in Cyprus this week, putting the Mediterranean diet in the spotlight. Foodrint is a collaborative project, both in terms of organisation but also in terms of its artists. Five international photographers connect Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Croatia bring this age-old food tradition based on austerity, creativity, sharing and seasonality alive.

The exhibition is the result of a collaboration between the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, Anemon Productions and the Goethe-Institut and happens in partnership with the Museum of Cycladic Art in Greece, the Fondazione Brescia Musei in Italy and the Cyprus Food Museum. Supported by the Creative Europe programme and the Cyprus National Commission for Unesco, Foodprint will run at the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation from Thursday to February 24. After its Cyprus launch, it will continue its journey with exhibitions abroad.

The project and its exhibited photographs feature the significance of the Mediterranean diet in daily life. Recognised by Unesco as part of humanity’s Intangible Heritage due to its unique set of qualities, the Mediterranean diet consists mostly of plant-based foods, such as vegetables, grains, nuts, legumes and fruits. Born out of poverty, it also provides solutions to some of the most critical problems facing the planet today, such as the loss of biodiversity, food waste and climate change.

The project’s parallel activities, which include photography workshops, educational programmes, cooking events and culinary walks, explore why the Mediterranean diet has come to be celebrated as one of the world’s richest, healthiest and most sustainable food cultures.

Five award-winning photographers travelled in Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Croatia, capturing dramatically contrasting images from isolated fishing villages to mountainous hamlets and modern culinary schools, while exploring diverse themes such as sustainability, identity, family, community, cooking, farming, health and creativity. Their images seek to inspire change and encourage viewers to connect with the region’s past, which although marked by poverty and hunger, created the world’s healthiest and most sustainable diets.

London-based photographer Elena Heatherwick travelled to the island of Crete to explore the themes of family and culinary heritage. Elena spent time with a family running a small tavern in a remote mountainous region. Three generations participate in the production of food products, such as cheese and vegetables, whilst also collecting seasonal wild plants from the mountains.

German photographer Johann Clausen visited Croatia, to capture the landscape on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea and visually explore one of the most essential ingredients of cooking and food preservation: salt. In Cyprus, Johann shot in a futuristic freight farm where vegetables are cultivated and protected by the island’s extreme summer temperatures while in parallel, he created a series of portraits of fruits growing in an abandoned grove, revealing their beauty in a timeless and iconic way.

In Morocco, Greek photographer Myrto Papadopoulos photographed a community in the remote mountainous area of Taounate. Relying on a seasonal, plant-based diet – as meat is too expensive to obtain – they have an intimate relationship with their environment, embracing what is offered by their land.

Dutch photographer Chris de Bode travelled to Spain, to focus on the health benefits of the Mediterranean Diet, by photographing a team of scientists at the University of Navarra who carry out one of the world’s leading studies on the benefits of the Mediterranean Diet called PREDIMED+. In Italy, Chris explored the themes of gastronomy, creativity and innovation through a series of portraits of culinary students in the city of Brescia.

Barcelona-based photographer Maria Contreras Coll visited the Portuguese island of Culatra to capture how the local community of shellfish pickers is affected by pollution, rising temperatures and overfishing and ultimately how their way of life both affects and is affected by the health of the sea.

Foodprint

Travelling photography exhibition and cross-media project. January 19 – February 24. Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, Nicosia. Opening night: 7pm. www.foodprint-project.com. Tel:  22-128157