Warning: Slight Nudity

First of all, Happy Halloween to my fellow eco-feroshas!

In the spirit of Halloween, I have decided to share with you guys a photographer that I came across just a month ago where he uses sugary food and junk food as a medium to transform his subjects. Maybe not so much of upcycling or recycling but definitely an interesting usage of materials to use for transformation of his subjects.

Photographer James Ostrer a self-confessed sugar addict in his most recent project titled – ‘Wotsit All About?‘, starts by mixing cream cheese with artificial colouring, which he then smears over his subjects, before adding the junk food. A full body can take up to one hour to finish, the face only about 30 minutes. He has to plan ahead meticulously, making the adornments in advance, because there is only a certain amount of time the food will stay looking perfect before it falls off the subject.

Portrait Leigh Bowery 3 1988 Photographer: Werner Pawlok

The first image that came to my mind was Leigh Bowery, an Australian fashion icon in the 80s and 90s that inspired the likes of John Galliano and Lady Gaga with his outlandish almost grotesque fashion choices. That unsettling discomfort that both Bowery and photographs of Ostrer has exudes a sense of empowerment that might come as a shock for most audiences.

There is also most definitely a strong tribal theme going on. As what Ostrer mentioned in an interview with Dazed Digital:

“I wanted to create a new tribe based on what we now eat and how far removed it is from nature. The distance between what comes out of the ground and what we then open from a packet. I see it as an anthropological reflection of our slavery to sugar addiction. I didn’t use any specific references other than my general knowledge.”

But I can’t help but feel a little slight maybe a touch of eroticism in particular Zentai, where empowerment, fetishism and anonymity comes to play.

For more images and a full length interview by Dazed Digital click here.

Image Source: Dazed Digital