Food and sex are both basic human needs and they both provide pleasure and stimulate our senses. The relation between food, sex and love has been documented trough the ages. The Greek used Figs as an arousing stimulant and held them sacred, associated with love and fertility. The Aztecs had their avocado and the Romans used almonds and basil to improve their sex life. Although some types of food have a proven effect on our body, stimulating our blood flow or by releasing dopamine. It’s more often an imaginative effect.
The relation between food, sensuality and sex is often based on the shape and/or substance of the product, like oysters and bananas. It can also be the smell of the product or the feeling it provides on the human skin, for example chocolate, honey or ice-cream. If we extend these food types with how they look when they are used on the body we enter the playfield of “La Figa”. La Figa is an art project by Tiberio Simone and Matt Freedman trying to create a fusion of food and form.
La Figa is an interesting take on the food and sex concept. It’s not so much about taste or smell, it’s all about visual stimuli. The color of the food on the skin, how it sticks to the body or how it adjusts itself to the human form. It’s fun to watch these experience take place, often performance style and lighthearted. The end result is sometimes subtle, often quite surreal but also erotic in a sensual way. The sessions are documented by photographer Matt Freedman who has a keen eye for light, shadow and composition.
My personal favourites are the images with the black backgrounds, in these images the focus on form, texture and light is really intense. A collection of 160 images, 20 recipes and 40 essays about food, love and life are bundled in a book. La Figa: Visions of food and form. It shows nude models of all shapes, ages and sizes wearing nothing but the culinair creations of Simone. The human body becomes the canvas and the fresh food ingredients the paint. More about the project and the book on the La Figa website.
