The Unbearable Hungriness of Human Being…

As reported from The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2008 “Most recent estimates put the number of hungry people at 923 million in 2007, an increase of more than 80 million since the 1990–92 base period.” It has also been recorded that the world already produces enough food to support the world's population - 6 billion people - and could support double - 12 billion people.

Because of population growth, the very small decrease in the number of hungry people has nevertheless resulted in a reduction in the proportion of undernourished people in the developing countries. Good progress in reducing the share of hungry people in the developing world has been achieved since 1990 until now. Rising food prices have thrown that progress into reverse, with the proportion of undernourished people worldwide moving back towards 17 percent on record. Supporting farmers in areas of food insecurity through such measures as free or subsidized fertilizers and seeds, increases food harvest and reduces food prices.

South East Asia nowadays, along with the growing population, the need of food (which is rice especially) is of top concern to the government. Born in the South of Vietnam, which is called the rice bowl of the whole country, I have witnessed the farmers struggle with the expansion of urban development. They have lost their farmlands day after day for tall buildings, apartments, shopping complex, etc…

“The unbearable hungriness of human being” is a conceptualized video art which presents the hunger of human body and how the body deals with starvation. Hunger is the gravest single threat to the world's public health. Hunger is a feeling experienced when one has a desire to eat. The often unpleasant feeling of hunger is unbearable. Although an average nourished individual can survive weeks without food intake,the sensation of hunger typically begins after a couple of hours without eating and is generally considered quite uncomfortable. The sensation of hunger can often be alleviated and even mitigated entirely with the consumption of food.

Hunger is also the most commonly used term to describe the social condition of people who frequently experience, or live with the threat of experiencing, the physical sensation of hunger. Historically, starvation (a term of hunger) has been used as a death sentence. From the beginning of civilization to the Middle Ages, people were immured, or walled in, and would die for want of food.

Does the urban development and profit forsake farming and feeding people? We now face more and more displaced farmers lost in the jungle of the city. The farms and farmers can survive without cities, but the cities cannot survive without farms and farmers.

(*The 2nd Taiwan International Video Art)