Photos of Women Holding Vegetables as Weapons

Yep, you read that title correctly. Vegetable Weapons is a photo project by Japanese photographer Tsuyoshi Ozawa. Since 2001, Ozawa has been traveling to various countries around the world, photographing young women holding make-believe firearms constructed using vegetables and other foods.

After finding a portrait subject, he asks her to put together a hot-pot meal using veggies and ingredients native to her country. They then assemble the foods into the shape of a gun and do a portrait shoot.

Once the photograph is made, Ozawa and his model disassemble the delicious weapon, cook the ingredients, and share a meal together.

Despite what you might think, Ozawa’s goal isn’t to bring themes of violence into the world of food and cooking. The project is actually meant to promote peace. The Queensland Art Gallery writes,

Drawing on the dynamics of everyday life and human interactions, Ozawa combines real-life incidents, situations and materials to create works which draw attention to ideas and issues central to social and political life

[…] He intends these processes to create an opportunity for discussion of issues such as conflict, war and injustice using the construction of an art work as the catalyst for dialogue.

If you’d like to see Ozawa’s work for yourself, it’s on display over at the Misa Shin Gallery in Tokyo through November 2, 2012.

Ozawa Tsuyoshi [Misa Shin Gallery via Feature Shoot]


Image credits: Photographs by Ozawa Tsuyoshi

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