It’s week 3 of Fujifilm’s Fujikina NYC 2022 takeover of our Photo of the Day and Week series, where the spotlight gets placed on five of their featured creators speaking at Fujikina NYC 2022 on September 10. Each photographer has been making images with Fujifilm’s latest X Series cameras. This week’s featured artist: food, still life and stop motion photographer Nivi Shaham, based out of L.A. and NYC.

Shaham’s project for Fujikina, titled Misconceptions, touches on “the subjects of food insecurity and the reality of being low income, and the misconceptions we hold when viewing food choices from an outside lens,” she explains. “My initial ideation of this project came about when I thought back to my time in college and the free food pantry that was available to college students and the greater community. I was interested in understanding the realities of how people surviving with food insecurity lived, and in creating art that spoke to this subject.”

Shaham created stop motion for each idea she wanted to convey visually.

Indulgence

Her first stop motion piece from Misconceptions, titled Indulgence (below), centers around the idea that when you’re low income or struggling financially, it’s often difficult to spend time with your family due to the insurmountable responsibility of multiple jobs, debt, caretaking duties, etc. “Sometimes fast food can be a solution to this as it allows a family to quickly purchase and consume food and also spend quality time with one another in the process doing an activity like a puzzle together,” Shaham explains.

Efficiency

Many people who are food insecure or low income feel they don’t have a lot of time in their days due to having multiple jobs, caretaking responsibilities, etc. “This one was all about what it feels like to come home late at night and throw something cheap and quick in the microwave to eat so you can have some time to decompress and address the other facets of your life,” says Shaham.

Joy

When you’re low income or food insecure, eating isn’t just about survival. Culture sharing with one’s family or community through home cooked meals is a really important part of anyone’s life. “Joy visually shows what culture sharing through food can look like,” says Shaham.

Nourishment

“Unhealthy” food choices aren’t always what people who are low income or food insecure eat. Some individuals have more time in their day and the ability to sort through and purchase low cost healthy foods. Nourishment shows the different types of healthy foods and produce someone is able to purchase at different price points.

Scarcity

When you’re food insecure often your food supply will be more abundant at the beginning of the month and quickly dwindle leaving you with little to get by on until you can get assistance the next month. Scarcity is a visual representation of this as we watch the pantry dwindle and end up scarce.

Survival

Sometimes being low income and/or food insecure means you may be unhoused as well. Shaham says, “Survival is a vignette showing what it could look like to be low income/food insecure and living out of your car.”

Shaham says her ultimate goal with this project is “for people to look and see the many nuances with food choices, and try to expand their thinking into why someone would make the food choices they’re seeing on their screen. I want people to spend lots of time looking at the images and stop motions and really think about what the story is for each one.”

Photographer Nivi Shaham:
Instagram: @nivishaham
Website: nivishaham.com

Fujikina NYC 2022 is free and open to the public. Guests are required to register and book a time slot to attend the event, as well as reserve space in a photo walk. To learn more, visit the event site here.

Dig into our Photo of the Day archives for even more eye-catching portraits and photos with unique and cool photo techniques. Submit your wedding portraits, editorial, documentary and commercial image submissions here: [email protected]