Sharing Confusion Cuisine
By: Lenora Huỳnh
Tags: Cultural Diversity, Diaspora, Contemporary Art, Asian American, Food

[1A] As the audience first walks into the gallery, they will encounter Shié Kasai and JiHee Min’s artworks. The intent is to provide the audience with the first immigration experience, as both artists encountered physical and cultural displacement when they arrived in Canada.

[1B] In the next room, Lenora Huỳnh’s video installations act as a juxtaposition between the perspectives of immigrants and the second-generation. Huỳnh highlights that the second-generation provides different narratives to tell. They experience cultural displacement without the physical displacement that immigrants tend to face. Huỳnh’s videos further engages with colonization, globalization, and Westernization through social issues such as colorism. This creates a transition into the performance art pieces found in the next room.

[1C] Rikrit Tiravanija, Patrick Cruz, and Rebecca Maria Goldschmidt’s pieces all require cooking and the audience. Tiravanija and Cruz’s cooking will emphasize the differences between Thai and Filipinxs while creating a discourse about social engagement, sharing cultural cuisines, and colonization. Whereas Goldschmidt’s performance, is an invitation for the audience to help interrogate the history of Filipinx food, the notion of demystifying labour, and bringing it to the forefront.

[2] Cindy Ji Hye Kim and Jin Joo Chae’s art pieces confront the political relationship between the United States and South Korea. Their critiques utilize food items, SPAM and Choco-pie, in order to reflect on globalization and Westernization. Their sculptural art pieces interact with the exhibition by establishing a connection between politics and food distribution, allowing viewers to ponder upon their histories.

[3A, 3B, 3C] Lee Ming Wei’s interactive art installation interconnects with Ken Lum’s installation. Their works both speak upon the concept of afternoon tea. Although Wei solely focuses on the tea aspect, Lum centres his art around the food that is meant to be consumed along with it. He explores diverse identities encompassed within the dumpling. Meanwhile, Stephanie Shih and Monyee Chau’s handmade dumpling sculptures may contrast due to their inedibility, but their artworks correspond with Wei and Lum’s installation rooms. These sculptures reference the nostalgia which comes from the creation of dumplings with loved ones.

[4A and 4B] Karen Tam’s installation room reflects on the history of MSG hysteria, as it becomes a reconstruction of a Chinese-Canadian restaurant that serves no MSG foods. Adding to the installation, Shellie Zhang’s collection of found MSG products, and her fusion cuisine menu pushes the interrogation of this historic racism towards the Chinese-North American diaspora.

[5] Cat Lamora’s aim to make a commentary on building identity, community, and companionship will be displayed through her mokbang paper sculpture. A documented video of the event where the sculpture was originally installed in, will be present. This is important, as it celebrates the Asian LGBTQ community, strengthening the art piece’s intended meaning.

[6] Catalina Ouyang’s art piece, body.land.snarl, relates to Lamora’s piece in regards to speaking upon gender and the body. Ouyang makes references to Chinese folk religion and her fascinations with it. Cathy Lu’s Bad Fruit further connects with Ouyang’s as it references Chinese folk religion, and her understanding of fruit symbolism in reference to the female body as well.