marwane pallas uses forced perspective to parallel human body parts and food

marwane pallas uses forced perspective to parallel human body parts and food
images courtesy of marwane pallas

the ‘doctrine of signatures’, an important aspect of folk medicine, drew upon the belief that herbs resembling parts of the body can be used to treat ailments of those human components. titling a series of self-portraits with this theory, french photographer marwane pallas has used forced perspective to link a group of edible objects to body parts. the four images draw a comparison between food and figure, depicting a peeled apart grapefruit as pallas’ lungs, red cabbage as a brain, a halved peach as a nose, and a bisected apple as a bottom.

the snaking layers of a halved red cabbage is compared to the human brain

a halved peach resembles the vacant cavity of the nose, as it appears on a skeleton

a bisected apple fits within the outline of pallas’ bottom