Tujia Kitchen

Media: Paper, peanut and walnut shell, string bags, clothes, foam, plastic net, etc.

Dimensions: 60*60*200cm

Time: 2020

China is one of the countries with the richest food culture, and Chinese kitchens' furnishing can very much tell their owners' habits. For Tujia people, there are two kitchens in each house—one for cooking on stoves and the other for making cured meats. The latter one is exclusive to Tujia houses.

In this work, I want to honor the Tujia tradition represented by the kitchen for curing meats, by reconstructing it with various materials. Instead of using materials actually used in the construction, I picked up whatever materials I encountered in my surroundings without considering too much about their hidden implications. Instead, I let their materiality guide my creation, which gives these everyday objects in modern household new meanings as they’re put into the context of what is considered traditional. I hope this work can provoke thoughts about modern and traditional lives, as well as the assumed binary between them.