http://www.absolutearts.com/cgi-bin/portfolio/art/your-art.cgi?
login=gnomie&title=Untitled-1055913477t.jpg A photo of this image, with artist Naomie Sunner standing
in front of it, is on the front page of this week’s
Yarra Leader: “Sunner’s image of a family
sitting down to a meal of over-sized corn on the cob is presently
plastered on a billboard on the corner of Smith and Gertrude
streets. The billboard art project was funded under Yarra
Council’s arts development program and is intended to
generate debate about genetically modified food.”
I quite like this picture, though I don’t find it as disturbing as I think I’m supposed to. Does Sunner know that corn cobs were once about half an inch long, and that it is only through selective breeding that they’ve got to the size they are today? That Mexican Indian farmers had developed six-inch cobs by A.D. 1500? (This information comes from Jared Diamond’s excellent Guns, Germs, and Steel, which, even more incredibly, says cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli were once the same plant.) 23:02
