Recipe // JODIE LYN-KEE-CHOW

“The artist invites participants to create a Chinese-Jamaican tossed salad with these nine ingredients:

2 bell peppers (green or red)
1 3” piece of ginger (add more to suit your taste)
1 pineapple
1 cup white rice
4 carrots
1 handful of scallion
2 Iceberg lettuce
4 tomatoes
3 orange

Instructions:
Boil 1 cup of white rice.
Chop and peel fruits and vegetables.
In a large bowl add the chopped fruits and veggies.
When rice is cooled add rice.
Stir it up and serve.
Serves 10.”
The veins of Oya was always here; (2014): Vinyl tablecloths, organic produce, wicker baskets.Performance. Dimensions Vary.Performance, 90 minutesimage courtesy of vela oma

The veins of Oya was always here; (2014): Vinyl tablecloths, organic produce, wicker baskets.

Performance. Dimensions Vary.

Performance, 90 minutes

image courtesy of vela oma

Inspired by the kitsch style of the artist’s grandmother’s kitchen, the Jamaican marketplace, and Lazy Susans from Chinese restaurants, vinyl tablecloths are sewn together and placed with baskets to convey the idea of a communal event. In this piece the baskets contain nine ingredients commonly used in both Jamaican and Chinese cuisines.

I originally made this salad just out of curiosity. I was also experimenting with food on another project, the ‘leaf of life’ tea around the same time.I was interested in using food as a subject in my work. I wanted to use food as a conduit of exchange. I found that those nine ingredients in The Veins of Oya was Always Here, were used often at home when I was growing up. I think a lot about the migration of food, too, and how a culture of people adapts when arriving at a new place. The vegetation of a landscape differs from one place to another and so I think about how people have created cuisines just from the lack of certain familiar foods.

-Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow