Picturing Monoculture: The Separation Between Us and Food

“In a world where you can find everything you want to see on Google Images, I think it is important to produce photographs that are disturbing,” says Spohler. “These photos are sort of grim and barren and that’s part of the story.”

Spohler says the separation between us and food – from sterile research laboratories in Germany to the plastic landscape of Andalusia’s greenhouses – has never been greater than it is now.

[mf_1200px_image src=”https://modernfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/mono1.jpg” caption=”Discarded chemical canisters are reused as floats for an intake pipe in a water reservoir outside a greenhouse in the rolling hills of Andalusia, Spain.” captionposition=”none” parallax=”off”]

[mf_1200px_image src=”https://modernfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/mono2.jpg” caption=”Rows of lettuce bake on a September afternoon in the hot California sun.” captionposition=”none” parallax=”off”]

[mf_1200px_image src=”https://modernfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/mono3.jpg” caption=”At a German research laboratory, these cereals are robotically photographed to carefully observe everyday fluctuations in biomass. The blue material acts as a green screen to allow precise documentation.” captionposition=”none” parallax=”off”]

[mf_1200px_image src=”https://modernfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/mono4.jpg” caption=”Young cacti grow in the middle of the desert in Borrego Springs, California.” captionposition=”none” parallax=”off”]