Framework Good Bread
My starting point was the search for my identity in foreign places, in places where I am estranged from myself.” - Rirkrit Tiravanija
As
a maker, I discover myself in the estrangement made available by the
unfamiliar. Whether that be unfamiliar places, tastes, or experiences. Det Goda Brödet investigates
the social and communal nature of food through various iterations
surrounding bread. The project will humbly approach the community of
Värnamo to produce several artistic platforms to exchange stories,
recipes, and trust–with bread as the catalyst. Bread is not only a key
economic and cultural signifier of identity, but bread is downright
biblical. They irony is I neither bake nor worship with any proficiency.
It is not for lack of skill or faith, but for lack of patience.
Det Goda Brödet welcomes collaboration by asking residents of Värnamo to bake with me–and me, asking to deserve to be baked with.
The initial outcomes will be a series of modest photographic portraits
of people, kitchens, and bread. These images will seed a petite
brödbibliotekt or brödarkiv, combined with bread recipes, new and old,
from local citizens. Not dissimilar to how women would collect and share
small volumes of recipes in a church cookbook. In return, the results
and related artifacts will be shared with contributors.
As my
knowledge of Värnamo strengthens, I will create an interactive public
embroidery experiment of knäckebröd with yarn and other sewing notions. The surface of the knäckebröd lends
itself to text and image needlework, with its organic grid of
indentations. The happening, in a shared public space, welcomes everyone
to contribute by embroidering personal epitaphs on the knäckebröd while
sharing conversation and coffee. The results will be documented and
exhibited.
In conclusion of my proposed time in Värnamo, I will
take several walks through the city, wearing shoes made from loafs of
bread, tentatively titled En Brödvandring. The walks, in an
oblique way, reference “walking in someone else’s shoes”, while
meditating on cultural perspectives surrounding identity, other than
one’s own. /MV
