Flatbread is a metaphor for contemporary society and a critique of globalism and cultural homogenisation. Flatbread is so culturally ubiquitous that this term relates to hyper-diversity in a connected (through this staple foodstuff) community. The image of a rolled-out, uniform piece of bread symbolises a society that has sacrificed its cultural diversity for the sake of a flat, monocultural mass. This world is split into seven ‘Counties’ and thirteen ‘Regions’, which represent different forms of exploitation and cultural deviation. This is a place to avoid at all costs. At its epicentre lies the volcanic crater Acne Vulgaris.
Acne Vulgaris is a symbolic mountain, a volcanic crater that bears the weight of the world and serves as an alchemical crucible. Inspired by volcanoes and mythical images such as the Tower of Babel (familiar from Pieter Brueghel the Elder) and Brueghel’s ‘The Temptation of Saint Anthony’ (1556), the mountain symbolises our disturbed ecosystem, wherein pollution and dangerous behaviour block access to underground energies. Acne Vulgaris, which transforms the waste of the past 500 years, represents both the destruction and possible reconstruction of our planet.
