Happy Hunting Grounds

Did you ever wander through the meat section of your local supermarket and imagine all those individually wrapped wings, breast and legs, those pale ribs, chops and guts blending into a bestiary of bizarre creatures that, packed with steroids, growth hormones and antibiotics, may eventually come back to life? – «Happy Hunting Grounds» is the last of three projects centered around supermarket food trays. It completes the trilogy initiated in 2011 with «FAO 77» and continued with «Alcampo» three years later. Since then, roving through the local supermarkets in search of prey had become a daily activity for me. One day, I stumbled upon freshly sliced meats wrapped up in quirky red and white checkered foam trays. Seriously? A single use supermarket food tray blending traditional wicker basket and classic country style tablecloth? I had just certainly found the ultimate canvas to create another series of photographic sculptures on modern food production and consumption! The happy hunting ground is believed to be the name given to the concept of the afterlife by several of the great plains Native American tribes. It is an afterlife conceived of as a paradise in which hunting is plentiful and game unlimited. Inspired by this idea, the project revives animals slaughtered for human consumption by portraying them chasing food. Each scene unfolds in an Arcadian landscape sculpted after existing sites across the United States. Once again, the toponyms not only serve as the artwork’s titles, but also evoke images, relationships and metaphors. The gingham-patterned meat trays serve as leitmotiv and convey the atmosphere of a fairy tale setting.