Year: 2024
Dimensions: variable
Materials: plastic bag, takeaway boxes, thread, memorabilia
In any language, we often don’t say what we mean. In the home, food in particular portrays a type of love that is often absent in words. Love in the thinking, the time spent, the movement of preparation. Yet in a takeaway context, the experience of food often becomes faceless and impartial. We are unaware of the stories behind all the hands that prepare and deliver, the loneliness that permeates the immigrant hospitality sector, behind professional masking.
Depending on the accent in pronunciation, xiāng jia (香家) can refer to a ‘fragrant home’. Yet the characters here for xiǎng jia (想家) actually mean ‘thinking of home’. The takeaway boxes below contain examples of objects that reference the mixed feelings of being at home yet feeling homesick. Traditional medicines, dictionaries, memorabilia… When we lay our roots in different locations, with people and moments in time, sometimes we find ourselves living through a fragmented lens.
Shown in:
Take-Away (2024)
Photo by Jon C. Archdeacon
Lisha Zhong 