My research moves from a strong interest in health and nutrition. I value the connection between body and mind, and consider a healthy nutrition a fundamental part of our wellbeing. However, as soon as I moved to London I realised that stressful rhythms and the costs of living are a barrier to a healthy and conscious approach to food.

One of the main reasons for the proposition of this project is the increasing number of people affected by eating disorders and food-related illnesses worldwide. The analysis of the visual language of food advertisements and photos of food posted by users on social networks revealed the existence of a hyper-reality where food is dehumanised and turned into an object of self-definition and representation. Its biological role and effects on our health have become secondary. I argue that people have never been so distant from food as they are today, and that the visual language that they use to relate to food reflects this detachment.

My project resulted into a multi-layered research into people’s relationship to food. From the initial analysis of the deceiving messages communicated by the low-fat food industry, I investigated the booming phenomenon of food porn (e.g. posting photos of food on social networks). Primary and secondary research revealed that people have disappeared from the frame, and that users are mimicking the visual language of advertisements so that ideal and real merge in an indistinct new creature: the food-object.

Eat Beautiful, The Tiny Book Of Food Personalities and You Are What You Eat (see individual projects) are the final outcomes of my research.