Bella Cardim (b. 1978) is a Brazilian visual artist from Rio de Janeiro whose work critically examines the emotional, cultural, and political dimensions of food. Rooted in a long-standing and fraught relationship with eating and self-image, her practice reflects on how consumption is shaped by inherited ideologies rather than hunger alone. Working across photography, installation, sculpture, and text-based forms, Cardim investigates how food operates as an instrument of control, identity, and desire — exposing the systems that turn nourishment into surveillance, reward, or discipline. Her work invites reflection on how collective beliefs quietly govern individual behaviors and perpetuate cycles of excess, conformity, and restraint.
 

Following an extensive career in commercial food photography, Cardim now approaches image-making as a critical field through which to decode the aesthetics of desire and consumption. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Miami International University of Art and Design and works between Rio de Janeiro and Miami, grounding her practice in both personal memory and transnational cultural discourse.