future generations
A donut with a beetle on it. Ice cream with a locust in the cream. A strawberry tart, and the shell of something moving beneath the fruit.
In 2021, dried yellow mealworm became the first insect authorised as a novel food in the European Union. For years, insects have been promoted as a sustainable source of protein: requiring less land, less water, and less feed than conventional livestock. The transition has already begun. What remains is to make it desirable.
Burns photographs that transition as the food industry might photograph it: glossy, coloured, appetising, lit like advertising. The insects are coated in sugar and served on pastel plates.
Future Generations is not a warning about a possible future. It is what the future will look like once it has been marketed.
Fast Food, 2018
Photograph, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl
Photograph, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl
Happy Meal, 2018
Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl
Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl
Sunday Desserts, 2018
Photograph, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl
Photograph, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl
Tea Time, 2018
Digital Loop
Digital Loop
Future Generations, 2018
Photograph, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl
Photograph, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl
Sugar and Proteins, 2019
Photograph, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl
Photograph, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl
The Perfect Dessert, 2018
Photograph, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl
Photograph, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl
Tea Time, 2018
Photograph, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl
Photograph, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl
Sunday Desserts II, 2018
Photograph, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl
Photograph, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl
Kaleido Bugs, 2018
Photograph, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl
Photograph, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl