About

'Harvest' celebrates food in art through over 150 works from the Gallery's Collection, including magnificent still lifes from the seventeenth century to today, contemporary photography, bold video works, and dramatic large-scale installations, with major new acquisitions of works by Argentine artist Tomás Saraceno.

Northern European still-life paintings of the seventeenth century evoked colonial prosperity through depictions of food, flowers and spices from Africa, Asia and the Americas, and contemporary artists continue to explore the global trade in food. 'Harvest' considers how emblematic regional specialities have become available around the world, and the impact of the global food trade on modes of production based on local knowledge. A discussion of the labour involved in production and distribution counterpoints the status derived from food, with 'Harvest' considering the role of food as a symbol of prestige – whether through exclusivity or excess.