Erin Secosky

Erin Secosky is an exhibitions and publication designer from Raleigh, North Carolina.

      Currently inspired by randomness, the process of design, and using design to question society though a blend of graphic design, 3D modeling, analog techniques, and research practices. Anti “user”, pro people, and always wanting to spark community and connection through graphic design.












This process is music, is science, is language, is design, is clothing, is thought, is fingernail, is gesture, is flora, is fauna, etc. etc..

- Cargo Newsletter 357




Food and Alienation

  • 3D modeling, layout design
  • Project Timeline: March-April 2024
  •     Food and Alienation is an art book exploring our relationship with food and how this is mediated by the design of food labels. How can we re-evaluate this relationship to feel more connected with what we eat?

Concept: Détournement

“Deflection, diversion, rerouting, distortion, misuse, misappropriation, hijacking, or otherwise turning something aside from its normal course or purpose”



While scanning the Lidls, Alberts, and Billas of Prague, an interesting counterbalance began to emerge in comparison to the “blanding” of food in the US. Food packaging was maximalist. Coming from the country of Whole Foods and Erewhon, I was shocked to see how much my relationship with food had been mediated by the increasingly minimalist packaging I was purchasing. Why does minimlism feel healthy? To question this, I wanted to follow two détournements. The first; a swap of grotesque and sanitary packagings (ex. Poppi soda with Giana can style) The second; pushing the grotesque to the extreme.

The Process

My inspiration; Giana canned goods
Pushing Giana to the extreme
Rendering to place the new grotesque packaging within the grocery context
Pushing that scene into a wider context to become surreal and strange


The Essay





The art book is split into four chapters, the first two focusing on the two extremes I had observed within food packaging trends, the third connecting food packaging to Walter Benjamin’s essay, Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, and the fourth giving suggestions for how to become more connected to food.



Explore the full art book 

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