★ Winner of the Svensk Bokkonst, Swedish Book Art Award 2021 ★ Shelf Life, a self published zine, explores the spatial and social landscape in and around the hallowed ground of American consumption, the Supermarket. The average North American supermarket is 40,000 square feet (12,100 m²), roughly the size of a football field or an acre of land.
The commodified space we enter to partake in this final destination of industrial food production is designed to generate maximum ‘cart value’ or expenditure. The over-produced food products bear little resemblance to the land, labor, plant forms or animals from which they were extracted.
In addition to a photographic sequence, a poem unfolds a personal narrative of resistance navigating a Mega Mart, lit up like a stadium, to purchase just a couple of items. A mock Industry Marketing Report reveals proven strategies to make us always buy more.
Published as a limited-edition photo-zine, Shelf Life’s printing style replicates a supermarket discount catalog.
Design by Bedow
edition of 500