Shayna Leib

Pâtisserie Series 

Food is a privilege.
And not in the way you think.
Let me explain.

Food is a privilege for those who aren’t sick. I created The Patisserie series to tease and provoke a reaction in my viewers, but if they stop at their hunger response, they are missing something much bigger. As someone who has lived with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome for over 8 years, and salicylate intolerance for 10, I cannot eat desserts. I cannot eat hundreds of foods, frankly, and there are others out there like me. To the naked eye, we don’t look sick. For my body, the reaction I have to food is sometimes immediate and sometimes extreme, including anaphylactic responses, vomiting, vertigo and rashes. I created this series so that my audience could feel an aspect of my desire. But in my case, the desire is to live as a normal human being again, to experience the simple joy of dessert while out with friends.   

They say big things come in small packages. In this case, these small objects of art belie a need for every single piece of equipment known to both the glass and ceramic world to come to life. - Shayna Leib