Assembly (series)
Interview and image essay Commissioned by Griffith Review.
Edited and interviewed by Carody Culver
A Matter of Taste. Edition 78. Published November 1, 2022.
"The home kitchen is historically dominated by the mother, who cooks as a labour of love – a type of hospitality linked to obligation and service. This leads me to explore the relationship that develops with food from birth and that mostly takes place around the family dining table. Unlike the mother, the contemporary chef produces food from another space that often has no emotional relationship to the diner. Instead, there is a focus on the audience being nourished with entertainment, novelty and creativity. I’ve long been inspired by chef practices and would describe myself as a food tourist. Finally, the machine: increasingly the most important and horrifying lens through which I consider food, which allows me to explore highly processed food production. In the studio I celebrate the malleability and long-term stability of processed foods – as a sculptor this benefits me greatly but as a consumer it makes me question our hospitality towards this indigestible matter.
The mother, chef and machine are also each linked in contemporary society. For example, the machine produces food for both domestic and high- end kitchens. The chef and mother have also become interchangeable now, and these crossovers make for fascinating sites of social and political exploration."
- Elizabeth Willing: Excerpt from interview
