I recently came across a series of images that truly captured my attention. I contacted the artist to understand more about the concept behind these attractive photos. I see flags, I see food that represents these countries… interesting. I spoke to the photographer Jonathan Icher who told me about the idea behind this series.
“It’s not a Photoshop effect,” insists Icher. The idea behind the the series draws attention to the fact that every kind of food, no matter what, in excess, will lead to obesity. Many countries suffer this problem and although not all of the featured countries do, it’s a must for everyone to be aware of this epidemic that’s affecting us all…
With the help of make-up artist Anastasia Parquet, Icher picked five different nationalities and put their iconic foods into his models’ mouths. France is related to the croissant, a Japanese girl eats sushi, cooked spaghetti falls out of an Italian’s mouth, a man with the American flag is ready to swallow up a burger, and a girl wearing the Union Jack represents the well-known full English breakfast by eating a fried egg.
How long did it take paint the flags like a tattoo? Icher explains that it took 3 hours to do the makeup of France, Japan and Italy and up to 6 hours for the UK and USA! Wow… Icher tells NGNO that he wanted to a fashion shoot that included food. It was a challenge to come up with an idea that looks glamorous. I was going for glamor that’s a little strange, but not disgusting.
The artist’s love for primary colors and geometric shapes, as well as his infatuation with 80s and 90s pictures, he chose five countries and what would be considered the typical food, keeping in mind the fact that I choose foods for each country depending on their graphical details and colors – “for example I chose eggs for UK and not beans…” There is humor in this series. It’s a kind of, “extreme patriotism” expressed in pictures.
Well, I for one, think they are nice… you? How would you imagine the Lebanese flag to look like? What food would you choose to represent your country…
