Because cooking is first and foremost a story of sharing, the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington (NMWA) presents until December 31 a virtual exhibition entitled Reclamation: Recipes, Remedies and Ritual, in which nine artists open the doors of their own kitchen to Internet users, by adding a series of photographs, videos and stories about this place of transmission and sharing. This unusual digital exhibition was conceived as an experience that brings forward the traditional role of women in food, also highlighting that of food as a creative medium for visual art. An indispensable tool for exploring intergenerational and intercultural experiences. “Now more than ever, people are looking to interact with each other in meaningful ways,” Melani N. Douglass, director of public programs at NMWA said in a statement. We explore how and if an exhibition can be a source of comfort and care in a time like this by connecting with artists and visitors in one of the most intimate spaces of the house: the kitchen table. . “. The exhibition invites nine multidisciplinary artists to work around this table, considered by all American families as an important place of learning and exchange, and to draw inspiration from them around the theme proposed by the museum, via photos and videos, but also narrations and anecdotes on their way of using raw materials and household objects. These nine artists, Jenny Dorsey and Lauren von der Pool (art cuisine), Sharayna Ashanti Christmas and Djassi DaCosta Johnson (dancers), Aletheia Hyun-jin Shin (painter), Tsedaye Makonnen and Wanda Raimundi Ortiz (actresses), Maggie Pate (designer) and Melani Douglass (curator), played the game with obvious pleasure …
Rituals that come to associate with the rites of the kitchen. Photo NMWA
Osmosis between museum and culinary ritual
The exercise gives birth to very beautiful compositions combining culinary skill, imagination, wandering of the mind, pauses, reflections and visual effects. Artist Djassi DaCosta Johnson, among others, can be seen in a yoga pose in a studio corner of his kitchen, as his daughter and her partner, wearing masks, play a game of scrabble on the dining table. Elsewhere, Lauren von der Pool sits in a ritualistic atmosphere, under giant palm fronds, feathers, and a clever arrangement of crystals and ingredients she used to make her smoothie. Actress Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz lines up the products she’ll use to make empanadas, the famous Hispanic delicacies, on her kitchen table, while a young family member does her math homework across the street. Table. Reclamation: Recipes, Remedies and Ritual knowingly wanted to push the boundaries of the traditional museum by installing a domestic and informal space. The artists responded to this call by transforming their kitchens into exhibition spaces, highlighting the act of cooking as a creative practice. “Ultimately, the exhibition describes the daily, often female, work of feeding, cleaning, raising children and keeping the family healthy. What could be more magical? »Specifies the curator. These nine artists were not the only ones to lend themselves to the game, since the curators of the exhibition invited Internet users to share their cooking recipes online, specifying the list of the dish’s ingredients, a photograph, a method of cooking. job as well as some anecdotes about it …
Family moments shared with Internet users. Photo NMWA
The iconic Ralph Nader and his “dishes and thoughts”
These testimonies illustrate the importance and the symbolism that the Kitchen Table took in the country of Uncle Sam, a useful platform for intellectual development, alongside its practical side. Not a politician or a celebrity who has not mentioned, at one time or another, all the contribution that this family kitchen table has given him. And how, between two bites, knowledge was naturally assimilated resulting from exchanges between all those present, adults and children, thus creating a whole culture and a whole legacy. In this regard, we can only mention the experience of Ralph Nader, an American of Lebanese origin who became a famous advocate defending consumers (especially against the giant General Motor) and environmental candidate (unsuccessful) for the US presidential election in 2000. In the cookbook of his parents Nasra and Rose, which he published under the title It Happened in the Kitchen: Recipes for Food and Thought, it appears that at the Naders, we discussed essential things, these things of the life, by passing a dish of Baba ghanouge or a plate of Nammoura. Like what could be done in all the family reunions of the country, all social classes combined, around a Macaroni and Cheese or a Chicken Pot Pie. This common denominator in America, mainly maintained by mothers, has found its place on the picture rails of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The only museum in the world exclusively dedicated to the achievements of women artists of all eras and of all nationalities.
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Because cooking is first and foremost a story of sharing, the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington (NMWA) presents until December 31 a virtual exhibition entitled Reclamation: Recipes, Remedies and Ritual, in which nine artists open the doors of their own kitchen to Internet users, adding a series of photographs, videos and …
