This Food Photo Series Is Like Nothing You’ve Ever Seen

NYC-based artists Josie Keefe and Phyllis Ma may boast prestigious Columbia University degrees and full-time gigs — but really, they're just looking for an excuse to play with their food. These days, the prop stylist and window dresser, respectively, are creating striking food images that are quite unlike the waffle-and-latte breakfast shots you're used to double-tapping. Their photo project is called LAZY MOM, and it's anything but ordinary.

Instead of your average Instagram #foodporn, the artists (who credit everything from Toilet Paper mag to — you guessed it — lazy moms as the inspiration for their still-life shots) are slashing pineapples, puncturing cantaloupes, and creating stacked sculptures from day-old lunch meat, all "in pursuit of the transcendent through the mundane."

"We create portraits and landscapes that unveil deeper desires and secret daydreams," Keefe adds. "We use common objects such as fruit, eggs, dishware, and money combined in paradoxical formations. These carefully manipulated arrangements create a landscape of domestic detritus where the real and fake merge to form the surreal." The pair plans to keep playing with food in innovative ways and eventually release a book — which will probably make for an fascinating coffee-table staple. For now, you can scoop up their first 'zine at the PS1 store and keep an eye out for their exhibition at the Good Work Gallery in September. But first, click through to see what they're working with.