Artist fools millions with cakes that look like raw meat and slugs

A young artist has fooled millions on TikTok with her hyper-realistic, provocative cakes of fake raw meat and even a slug.

Tatum Parden, an Artist and Fine Art student at Central Saint Martins University in London, began making realistic cakes after being inspired by "weird" artwork with unconventional materials.

Twenty-year-old Tatum filmed herself making a realistic pigeon cake which she ran over with a car.

After posting the video to Instagram, Tatum realised she loved the combination of realism with the shocked response from viewers.

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Tatum has always been into sculpture and when she needed a new project, she landed on the idea of making a realistic raw chicken leg out of cake.

Her raw chicken cake video suddenly went viral, with people equally impressed and entirely grossed out by her talent.

She said: “To be honest, I’m not very good at making actual food and the cakes are not very tasty.

“I just love performance art and the ‘shock factor’ that it brings.”

Tatum posted her cake creations online because she wanted to get a reaction, whatever it was.

She emphasised the importance of engaging with commenters to discuss the way they felt and their opinions.

She said: “The interaction with people is so interesting, it feels like a performance.

“I knew that people were very open to sharing their opinions in TikTok comments, so I was intrigued to see what reaction I would get.

“I expected some views and some dislike from commenters, but they’ve done surprisingly well!”

She will continue to post her art to TikTok, but she noted that it can be difficult to document the entire process whilst remaining "in the zone".

She said: “I have always used food as a material, so I will definitely continue creating pieces similar to my realistic cakes.

“I would also like to explore video pieces - I have a few on my Instagram.

“It can be so stressful to remember to snap out of it and film, so I’m not sure how much I will be recording from start to finish.”

Tatum said that her internet notoriety has given her many opportunities to discuss people’s thoughts and reactions, as well as getting inspiration from people around the world.

She said: “I want people to really feel and take away their strongest reaction, in any direction that may be - positive or negative.

“Whether someone feels joy towards my art because they like ‘weird’ or if they hate it and think it’s horrible, I like that people communicate their reactions with me.”

SWNS reporting by Jessica Hehir-Smith.

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