The Poverty Line

Poverty, in its universality, seems immediately understandable and yet, as a global problem, its dissolution remains highly complex.To illustrate what it means to live at the poverty line, Stefen Chow and Huiyi Lin visited thirty-six cities on six continents, and examined poverty with regards to food. From the local markets, they bought vegetables, fruits, cereal products, proteins and snacks – the amount of food they could afford per day based on the respective poverty line definition set by each government. They photographed the resulting pile of food, placed on a page of a local newspaper they bought that day. Using visual typology and artistic research as their guiding principle, they carefully calibrated lighting and shooting distance to ensure uniformity and comparability. In this visual reader, Chow and Lin embark on an economic comparison between the thirty-six countries and territories making the problem of poverty visible and comprehensible. In addition to the examination of the poverty line and its meaning across the world, the duo selected nine foods available in most of the economies observed to illustrate the globalization of production and the variations in prices and consumption. The book is enriched by texts that shed light on issues around the poverty line as a global phenomenon: The authors relate to the challenges of our society and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development whose first of seventeen goals is to end poverty in all its forms.