‘Dreaming Food’ Photo Series on India by Italian Photographer Causes Massive ‘Poverty Porn’ Debate

Alessio Mamo, an Italian freelance photographer based in Catania, Sicily is facing massive backlash on his series ‘Dreaming Food’ featured on the World Press Photo Foundation’s Instagram. 

The pictures in the series are from the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in India, showing poverty stricken people with a lavish 'fake' food-spread laid out on a table in front of them. The series ‘Dreaming Food’ is described as ‘a conceptual project about the hunger issue in India’ by the photographer.

‘The idea of this project was born after reading the statistics of how much food is thrown away in the West, especially during Christmas time. I brought with me a table and some fake food, and I told people to dream about some food that they would like to find on their table’, writes Alessio Mamo alongwith the pictures.

The project since it featured has been the subject of much online debate, with people slamming the photographer and terming it as ‘poverty porn’ and ‘sickening’. Mamo apologised in a statement on Tuesday after several Instagram and Twitter users criticised the series.

‘The idea was to create a contrast between a typical Western table with luxurious food in a poor context that could emphasize this contrast.The only goal of the concept was to let western people think, in a provocative way, about the waste of food ’, the photographer clarified in a statement.

‘I want to offer my deepest apologies to anyone who felt offended and hurt by this photos, and to the people I photographed. It was not my intention at all to discredit them. I’m in love with India and with the people. I’m always open to be criticised in my work, but I have never in my life felt hate like the comments directed at me in recent days’, he added.  

You can read his full statement here.

After the controversy, the World Press Photo Foundation also released a statement on the photographer’s work. The foundation said that ‘Alessio Mamo’s takeover started on 16 July and ended on 22 July. The photographers are responsible for selecting their work to show and writing their captions.’

Read World Press Photo Foundation's full statement here.

Image Credit: World Press Photo