MATT BEREZA & LEE FEARNSIDE (Luckey, Ohio)

Waste Plate (Burger Bar) by Bereza & Fearnside, 2015, digital inkjet print


As an interdisciplinary artist, my work has evolved over time. The majority of my work focuses on the 
environment, nature or natural elements in the environment. My work also explores connections; 
connections between the natural world and the human body, connections in the environment and the human-to-human 
connection through the use of various technologies. Through this exploration, much of my work takes aspects 
of nature, science, or society that might typically be unseen by the human eye and brings these aspects into 
the normal visual plane. 

"PerchBerry" captures unique aspects of the natural world that also happen to be what sustains us, our food. By seeing these aspects in a new way and with a different perspective, new connections can be made and an enhanced appreciation or awareness can be achieved.

Website:  http://www.stefaniallegrettiart.com
Waste Plate (Taste of Italy) by Bereza & Fearnside, 2015, digital inkjet print

Waste Plate is an inter-disciplinary, collaborative project by Matt Bereza and Lee Fearnside. The goal of the project was to highlight the paradoxical nature of “hunger” in Seneca County, situated in some of the richest agricultural land in the United States. Seneca County, Ohio, has a population of 56,000 and an 16% overall poverty rate, school districts reporting free and reduced school lunches between 75-99%. Yet the trash cans at this educational facility were full of entire pizzas, breads, pastry, potatoes, chicken patties, hamburgers, and chewing gum. To illuminate the discrepancies between hunger and waste, the researchers captured two bags of cafeteria waste, sorted, plated and stylized several plates of food. The outcome was dynamic, and the artists hope it demonstrates the disconnect between reported hunger and factual food waste in rural America.