We created a fine art project about GMOs for a gallery show at Gallery Twenty-Two, who is hosting a Charlotte photography show during the month of November. Our image shows a Monsanto-like company pumping chemicals into the roots of the man-made corn growing on the surface level.  The many background elements are all showcasing various products that are created using corn.  For instance, oil drilling requires a corn-byproduct that keeps the drilling fluids from spilling back to the surface.  GMO corn feeds many people throughout the world because we grow so much of it, which is why we featured a helicopter air dropping food onto a village.  There is an ethanol gas station, cows eating GMO feed, and people lining up to get their fill of high-fructose corn syrup.  The photo also features FoodBabe, a mega-blogger who investigates our food supply and is very against GMOs in our food system.  Learn more about her pursuits at foodbabe.com.

The final image, as usual, is a combination of photography and cgi.  The corn cob, the lab, the landscape, the village and various smaller elements (such as the wooden stand and feeding troughs) are all created via 3D artistry and CGI.  The sky, people, ambulance, gas station, and corn are all photos.

We tried not to make a judgement call on whether we as a society should be using GMOs.  On one level, they can be supremely beneficial.  For instance, scientists are working to change the genetic makeup of sweet potatoes so they can grow in the desert.  Can you imagine if suddenly a new food crop could spring up in Africa and wipe out that continent’s food supply problem?  Of course, the downfall is how untested these foods are.  Several of our friends are doctors, including one who is a doctor/Chinese medicine practitioner specializing in autoimmune diseases, who claim that genetically modified wheat is causing a huge host of problems in the patients they treat.  Sean is currently reading a book called Life at the Speed of Light by Craig Venter, a synthetic biologist who led the Human Genome Project, and it’s obvious from the book that science is quickly heading towards the creation of life forms to serve us.  It’s a fun and exciting topic to discuss, which is why we used our CGI photography skills to create this fine art image.  We hope you enjoy!