That Once Was

Farming is a part of everyday life and it is becoming harder to find local organic farms that do not use genetically altered foods; whether it be from the plants they grow or to the food they feed their animals. Family farms are slowly becoming obsolete because they cannot compete with big food corporations. An example of the challenges present in farming industries are the patents on genetically modified seeds which are held by these large corporations.  Organic seeds are becoming contaminated by neighboring fields owned by big corporation’s and therefore contain the patented DNA owned by the large corporations.  Small farms need organic seeds in order to survive.

 For this series That Once Was, I photographed local farms as they are seen today, focusing on family farms in Charlotte and surrounding areas. I distressed the images in Photoshop; inkjet printed them on Kilimanjaro paper and then altered the printed images with watercolor. The translucent and faded quality of the watercolor represents the disappearance of family farms today. I delivered these images on small pallets of reclaimed wood frames to correlate to the process of getting equipment and supplies to farms. With my work I want to draw attention to the farms that are vanishing due to GMOs and patented seeds so that people realize what is happening to the family farms in their areas and to help to preserve them.