Justin

Week 9: Tues. Mar. 16

1. Review all lecture materials and videos below
2. Write about at least one artwork, or food-culture reference that inspires your next assignment
3. Post all research notes /images for a FOOD ART proposal – we will discuss your proposals and offer support in the next class.

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Rod, Peggy, Bernie, Aislinn by Aislinn Thomas

I chose to talk about the artwork Rod, Peggy, Bernie, Aislinn by Aislinn Thomas. It is a six and half minute long video that is broken into four parts. Each part is occupied by a narration that recollects moments tied to food.

In the the first narration, following a title card of Rod, a moment is told of when their father made pancakes for the family. The moment revolves around pancakes being made, as well as the Killer Pancake. The latter being a giant pancake, taking the size of a pan and an entire plate. The narrator parallels the difficulty of continuing this moment as the years go on with a crumbling structure of the family. Conditions change. Family members change their diet and sleeping schedules making it is a matter of time and space that challenges the event in which the pancakes are made. As this moment is recorded in this video the narration comes to the point where they decide to make their own killer and not-so-lethal pancakes. The voice comes to an understanding as to why the killer pancake exists: It is the finishing pancake of the batch. When the person with the pan is fed up and is done with making pancakes. Poetically, the large pancake is exactly what it’s name suggests, it is a killer. It is an ending to a ritual. But it also links the narrator to memories of their father’s position in the family at that time and place.

The next two parts follow a similar process of remembering. In Bernie, the memory of their grandfather teaching them how to make bread is detailed. What begins as confusion becomes an intuitive process, but it is made clear through the grandfathers guidance. The theme of death continues in this narration too, after the passing of the grandfather, the narrator finds themselves hiding in the basement. What brings them out of hiding is the same food that they and their grandfather would make.

In Peggy’s segment, the narration reminiscences about their mother while making lemonade. It was also about how the both of them shared sensibilities about food-making. Food-making is about experimenting, taking measurements, breaking, rolling, and mending. For the narrator, there is an importance of pulling things together with what you have in hand that the process signifies.

It seems to me that food-making and food art is tied to a kind of genealogy. One that is tied to ritual value that is also personal too. These narrations make me reflect on my own food experiences, how they help us to connect with us. For myself personal, I try to learn how to make meals with my partner. it is something that I know she would like but also something I can learn and do with her. I do not think it is health to limit the things we can and cannot do with each other. But the idea of memory, loss, mending extends to the rest of my family, and friends too. I remember having pizza nights with a movie every friday night. Other nights my father with get a beguette and dip it in a plate of oil. There are many moments like this that are tied to food.

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Notes

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This might include actions that explore:

•  The tactile/material qualities of food and food-related devices
• The sounds of food, the smells of food
• Memories of food
• Food and emotions
• Popular representations of food in culture
• Relationships of food to the body
• Food and gender
•  Visual aspects of food
•  How food changes in time
•  How food connects us to each other

Either a 1 minute looping video or a series of 12 images – prepare video as if it were to be posted on instagram. 

FOOD ART PROPOSAL:

My proposal is to create a zine from cut up vegetables. The zine will have impressions made from the food, as well as a caption of their name and grocery code underneath. Only yellow ink would only be used to to associate with groceries stores like Nofrills. Each impression with be inked and pressed on recycled paper, that will be prepared to be folded up. The caption will be written in a yellow paint marker.