Introduction

Vania Cheng was born in Hong Kong and studied Fine Arts at Staffordshire University.

 

Her work investigates food consumption and explores the complex relationships among food, culture, and capitalist systems. She uses screen printing to explore how advertising, accessibility, and societal norms influence collective perceptions of nutrition and health. In her practice, she focuses on economic structures that influence dietary choices, challenges marketing strategies, and examines how the mass production of fast food reinforces social class distinctions and consumer habits. Her work emphasises that capitalism subtly shapes our behaviour and encourages critical reflection on consumer decision-making about food. In her visual approach, she utilises the aesthetic language of advertising, vibrant colours and simple, bold lines to provoke the audience's authentic reactions. By creating a sense of familiarity, she invites the audience to reconsider how capitalism unconsciously influences our behaviours.

Her recent works investigate the complexity of eating habits from both personal experience and a social perspective. Building on her critique of capitalism's impact on dietary habits, her work invites the audience to reconsider their relationships with food and consumption, and recognise the structural forces that shape consumption patterns.