The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that thirty to forty percent of the food supply in the United States is wasted every year, even as millions of people experience food insecurity. Food is abundant, but systems and behaviors create barriers to food access for vulnerable populations. For this exhibition, the Frist Art Museum partnered with Buchanan Arts, the Nashville Food Project, the Tennessee Justice Center, and Unearthing Joy and held an open call for Nashville-area artists to submit art for consideration that explores food justice and food’s role in bringing people together. This juried exhibition features twenty-two Nashville-area artists and serves as a companion to Farm to Table: Art, Food, and Identity in the Age of Impressionism and Tennessee Harvest, 1870s–1920s.
We would like to acknowledge and thank the selection committee:
- Ashley Brailsford, Founder, Unearthing Joy
- Virginia Griswold, Executive Director, Buchanan Arts
- Crys Riles, Anti-Hunger Advocate, Tennessee Justice Center
- Mark Scala, Chief Curator, Frist Art Museum
- Allison Thayer, Director of Community Engagement, The Nashville Food Project
Community Gardens
A community must have access to healthy, fresh food to thrive. A community garden may provide food for those in need while also serving as a gathering place for people to learn, labor in the soil, and experience the joy of growing food themselves.
The US Department of Agriculture defines a community garden as any public space where individuals gather to grow flowers, vegetables, or other plants. According to the Centers for Disease Control, gardening can improve one’s sense of community, as well as physical and psychological well-being.
The Nashville Food Project stewards community gardens at McGruder Family Resource Center in North Nashville and Mill Ridge Park in Antioch, connecting neighbors with the resources needed to collaboratively maintain the gardens and share the harvest of fresh, healthy food.
Buchanan Arts is a 501c3 nonprofit working to promote the transformative power of creativity and community. While known primarily for their art classes, workshops, and emerging artist fellowship, they also recently started a community garden. Each Saturday, volunteers and community members are invited to learn and work in the garden together.
Food Waste
An estimated 120 billion pounds of food ends up in US landfills each year. Approximately 20 percent of food waste happens at the retail and consumer levels, for several reasons. Unusually shaped, otherwise nourishing fruits and vegetables may not be sold because they do not meet retailers’ aesthetic standards. Sell-by and best-if-used-by dates are not standardized and often result in food being discarded before it spoils. Waste can also be a result of overproduction, poor storage, or damage in transit.
Food recovery efforts by organizations like the Nashville Food Project and Second Harvest Food Bank combat waste and promote equitable access to nutritious food in Middle Tennessee. These programs are possible through donations by individuals or through partnerships with local farmers, grocers, restaurants, and markets.
Food Deserts and Food Swamps
Individuals and households in certain geographic areas may encounter barriers to affordable food based on a lack of nearby food retailers. These typically low-income, food-insecure areas may be considered food deserts or food swamps.
Food deserts are areas with limited access to affordable and healthy food options. The US Department of Agriculture characterizes a food desert as a region with a minimum poverty rate of 20 percent and where one third of the residents live over one mile from the closest grocery store in urban settings or over ten miles from it in rural locations.
Food swamp is a newer term describing areas with a higher density of unhealthy food offerings, like fast food restaurants and convenience stores, compared to healthier alternatives.
Unearthing Joy is working to combat inequitable access to food through educational programs like Farm Fridays, their twice-yearly series focused on developing skills that support well-being, with opportunities to learn about gardening, liberation, and the creative arts in nature. Meanwhile, initiatives like FeedBack Nashville have been created to find solutions to food insecurity and other local food justice issues.
