Foodways (2018)
Exploring the intersection of food with cultural identity.
MCAD, Minneapolis, MN
Curated by Kerry Morgan

Taking its title from the study of food-related behavior and patterns of membership in the community, Foodways highlights how contemporary Minnesota-based artists use the subject of food to reveal patterns of consumption, processes of acculturation, and the power of memory. The breadth of artists and ideas—presented in media including painting, drawing, video, sculpture, and photography—provide an insight into the state’s cultural diversity and our increasingly interwoven communities.

Some of the projects in the exhibition actively engage Minnesota’s particular history in developing the flour-milling industry and the invention of packaged foods. In contrast, others focus on the everyday—dirty dishes accumulating in sinks, families eating, fridges full of foodstuff, and homages to the best way to clean a countertop, consume butter, and enjoy hotdish. Particularly significant sites of contemporary food consumption are also prioritized, including the Minnesota State Fair and the Midtown Global Market. Seemingly ubiquitous food items that also function as specific markers of culture—such as rice, chicken, eggs, corn, beer, tea, and coffee—are in several artworks recontextualized, becoming products of misrecognition or metaphors for acculturation. Finally, some pieces illuminate the role of ritual in preparing and offering food, which serves as a touchstone to childhood memories and ancestral lineage.

Alongside the exhibition’s display area, there will be a reading area where gallery visitors are welcome to sit and browse over a dozen books and cookbooks, many of which are published by the Minnesota Historical Society. Outside of the gallery space are several food-themed public art installations, including a banner project titled Consumed by Rosemary Williams that runs along 26th Street and two works in the MCAD Sculpture Garden by Joel Terry and Julie Benda, respectively.

Food defines people and cultures as much as it bridges them. Understanding that everyone is interconnected and integral to one another’s survival is a core tenant of Foodways.