FOOD, FLAVOUR, FUSION Exhibition
Fairfield City Museum and Gallery Commission 2014
Social History and Exhibitions Curators: Helen Johnson and Emma Shrapnel
The FOOD, FLAVOUR, FUSION exhibition celebrates the city of Fairfield’s proud multicultural community of over 65 cultures. Food and flavour is integral to each culture and is unique in each of our cooking styles and meaning. This exhibition showcased three cultural groups each sharing one significant cultural event. I had the honor of documenting two groups; first was an Assyrian community’s Saints Day and the other was a Vietnamese family the Nguyens remembrance and birthday day of a loved one. Photographs capture the days events of the community of helpers to prepare the multiple dishes, the care of setup of ritual spaces and the dinning tables, the sacred rituals before the meal and the celebratory sharing of the meal with the community at the end.
Outcome: Exhibition of photographs and stories and publication of exhibition catalogue. The exhibition looks at the role food has in bringing communities together.
Remberence series, 2014
Nguyen Family annually has a remembrance day to celebrate the birthday of the late Mr Nguyen.
All his favourite dishes are made for him and displayed on the alter of Mr Nguyen and his wife. The traditional ritual of offerings, prayers and bows of respect are made to Mr Nguyen before the family will share the feast of dishes offered at the alter. Prior the the festivities the Nguyens were up early cooking the dishes from scratch with myriad of fresh herbs, spices, meats and sauces to match. Mrs Nguyen lead the family in the cooking of dishes and shared how to make prawn paper rolls and Chao Vit (duck rice soup).
Saints Day series, 2014
Lazar Family home is buzzing at 6am in preparation for the Assyrians community’s Saints Day celebrations. The back yard is converted into a kitchen filled with half a dozen commercial sized pots of lamb soup and laundry baskets of fresh herbs washed and chopped ready for the Gir-tho (rice and yoghurt pudding). They are expecting over a hundred people to visit their humble home that day, with the local priest to come to bless the feast before the lunch starts.
The atmosphere is festive; with laughter of women as stories are shared with family and community. As the day rolls the backyard is filled with the wave of friends and family coming and going and the pot still has more soup to share.
