Week 3: Minimiam by Akiko Ida and Pierre Javelle

Wednesday, August 06, 2014 Ching Lea Yee 0 Comments

"Minimiam" ("miam" means "yum in French) is a series of dioramas by Akiko Ida and Pierre Javelle. It involves placing miniature people in a world of over-sized food. I love how this series shows wild childish imaginations that are often lost as we grow up. This was also one of my ideas I had for Exercise 1 "(Extra)Ordinary". I wanted to create miniature figurines that are placed along side local Singaporean dishes. Such as a bowl of laksa could be portrayed as the pit of a volcano with miniature figurines along the edge of the bowl. I feel that this will allow me to create an interesting perspective to local food. I could visualize these photographs being commercially used in conjunction with Singapore Tourism Board as a way to promote the local food to tourists.

In their dioramas, Javelle and Ida arrange miniature model train figurines in everyday positions and situations that connect playfully with the fruits, vegetables, pastries and other foods that they use in the photographs. Although the main purpose of the images was simply to create a series of images that will make people smile, some of them take on issues like global warming and our relationship with nature.

Both Javelle and Ida share an interest in food photography and both are successful food photographers, which came to no surprise why this series looks so delicious.