Gordan Matta-Clark, founder of FOOD, an artist-led restaurant/soup kitchen
VART670B PROCESS NOTEBOOK
FOOD & ACTIVISM
DREAMSPACES
Medical Authority
Research
Form/function
Works to include in final exhibition:
Adipose Series (4 long-format drawings of a charcoal figure with fat cells coming off of the body in guache and gold leaf)
Adipose #1 - vertical, 138" x 45"
Adipose #2 - horozontal, 50" x 161"
Adipose #3 - horozontal, 36" x 140"
Apipose #4 - vertical, 145" x 45"
fat cell swatches - 100 2" x 2" drawings in guache and fat on paper, framed with ornate gold frames to be 5" x 5"
Some display options include a single line around the gallery, or arranged in a grid or salon style
fat cell gif - projection of a gif of the fat cell swatches, possibly projected over the mylar installation
Installation piece - roughly 45 cut mylar fat cells in clear and frosted mylar, suspended from the ceiling to be parallel with the floor by red thread (alternatively, could be hung perpendicular to the floor by a single piece of red thread, but to me, this makes them look a little shoddy and less physical/weighty
my original thought was to install them in a sort of cloud formation - suspended randomly at different heights, but an alternative that I'm exploring is threading them together like a sort of chain - thinking of Ernesto Netto's work, references a spine or a ladder - more bodily but mimics the drawings less.
Litho prints - not sure of the size yet, the ones that I currently have are 14" x 12" - could display a single one, or a few of the same edition (or my "failed" attempts) could be grouped together in a line, or in a salon-style display with the swatches
Thesis paper - this will take the form of Permission Cookbook - a hard-cover square-format book with sleek, cookbook aesthetics. Could be simply displayed on a plinth, alternatives could be having the pages displayed on the wall, or a slideshow of images from Permission Lunch, the plinth could also be replaced by a table (thinking kitchen table) or a structure that resembles a kitchen counter... I'm not overly fond of the sterility of the plinth, but the table/counter option also seems a bit contrived to me.
On the relationship between food & rest:
Tricia Hersey writes about radical rest - rest as a form of reparations for the slave labour of Black people in the United States, the creation of grind culture and perpetuation of the stereotype of Black people as lazy are all things that Hersey likens to the continuation of anti-black racism and white supremacy in America. She sees diabetes, heart disease, and other illnesses often linked with fatness as diseases caused by chronic sleep deprivation and a lack of ability to rest - it's not lost on her that these are diseases and causes of death that also fall along racial and economic lines.
Through Hersey's Instagram project, The Nap Ministry, I have also discovered the incredible book "Black Power Kitchen" a cookbook, collection of artwork, and research anthology of Black food. Hersey promotes the book with enthusiasm, stating she is eager to continue the conversation about the relationship of food and rest, particularly as a tool of Black liberation.
What is this relationship, I wonder? In Hersey's understanding of rest - which expands FAR beyond naps, rest is the thing that connects us to imagination, allows us to explore new worlds of possibilities, is a pathway to Afrofuturism, and is the space of leisure, spirituality and community that connects us to culture. To Hersey, rest is prayer, dancing, singing, daydreaming, artistic pursuits, sitting on the front porch, eating a meal slowly and of course... napping. In my opinion, rest to her are things of joy done with great intention that connect us to something larger than ourselves - and she specifically references acts of rest that are deeply engrained in Black culture - a powerful example that she often references is Harriet Tubman's practice of stopping each day to make time for prayer while traveling people through the underground railroad - Hersey sees this as an act of rest that attuned Tubman to her intuition and divinity, giving her the tools that she needed to continue her mission. But rest is not a tool, it is a divine right, it is the place and time when we are our authentic selves.
Culture, community, care, nourishment, joy, daily practice, slowing down, intention... principles that Hersey sees as a part of rest that are also a part of food. The practice of eating is one that must be undertaken multiple times a day. Our capitalist and white supremacist society would have us believe that food is simply fuel for our bodies - a tool to make us better machines, but what if we embraced food as not just critical for life, but a reason for living in and of itself? Beyond that, food connects us to our ancestors, in our food is ancient knowledge that we embody when we eat and prepare it. I think of family recipes that have been passed down through generations, I think of the rich history of foods and ingredients that have traversed the world - gathering influences and variation from climates, land and cultures - blending and connecting with new lands and across vast distances. When I eat parsley I think of all of the knowledge that it holds and the distances that it has traveled - its mythos as an herbal remedy, the connection that it brings me to my ancient ancestors in the middle east and their journey to Europe and eventually America, the inclusion of it in my grandmother's recipe for gafilte fish which I made with her and my great aunt Audrey, its symbolism on the seder plate as the herb that represents the bitterness of slavery.
It is one of life's great pleasures that our bodies demand that we stop to eat. Our bodies demand food as much as they demand rest - to deny us these things not only is an act of violence against ourselves but is a denial of our divine right. When we eat with intention and in community, we heal. Release the shame and guilt that you feel for taking the time to rest...it is not your own.
A poem of food and rest
She closed her eyes and felt into her body
hunger
honey cakes and cold salmon on her mind
she does not regard the time
to prepare this meal
or whether it is an appropriate time to eat
but she takes the time she needs
to do it right
Kate Baer
BLACK POWER KITCHEN