Why? Because it signifies the "commodification of land and agriculture, and the relationship between the environment and destruction, and the role the dairy and agriculture industries play in that".
The Otago Polytechnic visual arts (honours) student’s jewellery is on display at the Dunedin School of Art’s Site exhibition which officially opened last night.
Mr Nuttall said the beads were created by drying out processed cheese slices and then turning them into a powder using a coffee grinder.
"Then I mixed it with a binding agent and pressed it into a mould and turned it into beads which I painted and varnished and strung together."
He doubted they were still edible.
"If they’re still edible, they probably wouldn’t taste very good."
It is not the first artwork he has made using food.
During the past few years, he has also made jewellery out of meat and French fries, using a similar process.
He said he had great ideas for future food/jewellery projects, but was keeping them to himself for now.
Otago Polytechnic Dunedin School of Art exhibition co-ordinator and photography and electronic arts lecturer Rachel Allan said one of Mr Nuttall’s pieces of jewellery (worth $2500) was bought by the Otago Polytechnic for its art collection because it saw him as one of New Zealand’s up-and-coming artistic jewellers.
His work was among about 400 on display, ranging from projections on 2 cubic metres of sand, photography, paintings and drawings on walls, to sculptures of albatrosses made from more than 5000 plastic bags.
"You name it, we’re doing it for real. There’s a real variety of different arts," she said.
They have been created by about 60 third-year bachelor of visual arts students, honours students and graduate diploma of visual arts students this year.
"To complete their degree, they have to have an exhibition."
The exhibition opens to the public today, is closed tomorrow, then opens next week from Monday until Thursday.
Entry is free and many of the artworks are for sale, she said.
"You can purchase new, emerging artists’ works at really reasonable prices. Who knows, in years to come, it may be worth much more. We have quite an amazing alumni — some, very famous."
