Global Fat Exchange
is an ART PROJECT
an IDEA
about hunger, food
and sharing
a source of STORIES and
related INSTALLATIONS
part of the work of
Moniek Westerman, artist
HUNGER
I remember this from when I was little. When refusing to eat up what was on my plate at dinner time, I was told more often than not: ‘consider the hungry children of this world’. I recollect fantasizing about a solution that suited not only myself but also ‘them’. It never became any more realistic than the idea of sending the unappealing leftovers to Africa. The address was a problem for starters.
A great many years later (now) I still haven’t found a solution for a problem that has only increased and can be described in numbers. According to the World Food Programme, in September 2009 one billion people in this world are hungry.
I treasure the silly thoughts of my childhood. I’d love to actually take what we have too much of – to wherever there is too little. On the other hand, I’m an artist, and shipping food from A to B is the work of other people. And I did some more thinking, as I am also a dietician with more than 20 years of experience.
is a ‘silly’ artistic answer to a real problem.
I’ve noticed in my years of talking to (overweight) people that the richer people have an equally bad problem – too much can be an unhealthy burden. Many fat people say ‘I wish I could share with a thin person’. However true this may be, it is just as unrealistic and naive as my childhood solution of sending leftovers to Africa.
People who read this will most probably not know what it is to be hungry. Neither do I. But I have given it a lot of thought. The more I imagine it, the worse it seems to be. And it is happening now to so many, both far away and amongst us.
So I suggest you stop buying the food that you won’t need or eat, and (if appropriate) lose some fat. It is totally up to you, but why not use the money you save to send as a donation to a good Food Programme – I have some suggestions (charities). If you also tell your story (or write a reaction in my guestbook), it would complete my Global Fat Exchange dream. With your permission- I would be very happy to publish it on the Global Fat Exchange website (stories).