Huaco de Maíz (Vessel made of corn)
2021 Royal College of Art; Layout design, Food History, Research & Concept
Huaco de Maíz poster design.
Huaco de Maíz is a sculptural food workshop part of Panza Project; a social food project I’ve been running since 2021.
In this workshop I used maize dough as an entry to discuss the use of relics in constructing national identity. I invited the participants to listen to the history of Huacos (Andean religious relics) and their looting in Colombia, while we made a sculptural version of personally specific relics out of maize dough which were then fried and eaten communally.
Topics we touched upon; the role of the museum in relation to the relic and national identity, the role of an archive in community, food and nostalgia’s connections to belonging.
In this workshop I used maize dough as an entry to discuss the use of relics in constructing national identity. I invited the participants to listen to the history of Huacos (Andean religious relics) and their looting in Colombia, while we made a sculptural version of personally specific relics out of maize dough which were then fried and eaten communally.
Topics we touched upon; the role of the museum in relation to the relic and national identity, the role of an archive in community, food and nostalgia’s connections to belonging.
Panza is a social food project. Its aim is to decolonize the way we share knowledge and rethinking how we value sources of knowledge. It has manifested as a set of alternative pedagogical spaces: workshops, cooking classes and meals. Using communal activities like cooking or sharing a meal as a way to stimulate dialogue.
Huaco de Maíz formed part of an exploration into museums, relics, and the idea of permenance in national identity.
I curated the social media, research, graphic materials as well as leading these workshops.
Huaco de Maíz formed part of an exploration into museums, relics, and the idea of permenance in national identity.
I curated the social media, research, graphic materials as well as leading these workshops.
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Instagram posts advertizing workshop.
Instagram posts advertizing workshop.02:
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A sculpted maíz sun by participant Javie Huxley.
During the workshop we discussed how in countries that gained independence from colonial powers it has become common to find indigenous artefacts as the basis of the post-colonial national identity.
Understanding their importance as signifiers of post-coloniality and their relationship to colinization as well as questions of what could be a conscientious way to educate in decolonized museums arose.
Understanding their importance as signifiers of post-coloniality and their relationship to colinization as well as questions of what could be a conscientious way to educate in decolonized museums arose.
Photograph of poster on display advertizing workshop.
A small metate pounding bowl formed out of maíz.
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Please get in touch if you would
like to hear more about
the project or get involved!
like to hear more about
the project or get involved!
COMMENSALITY SERIES
To pair with the workshops and disseminate my body of work I created a series of publications.
The objective is to create a set of ‘workshop cookbooks’. They are produced as templates so people can facilitate their own workshops, in their own communities, using their own contexts to enrich the discourse on these subjects. They are designed as a binder style cookbook (an homage to culinary publications of the past) which in effect allow the user to add and subtract information they find important or relavent to what they are trying to communicate.
In making these guides, I hope to contribute to the efforts of decolonizing knowledge exchange by creating a tool that facilitates this.
To pair with the workshops and disseminate my body of work I created a series of publications.
The objective is to create a set of ‘workshop cookbooks’. They are produced as templates so people can facilitate their own workshops, in their own communities, using their own contexts to enrich the discourse on these subjects. They are designed as a binder style cookbook (an homage to culinary publications of the past) which in effect allow the user to add and subtract information they find important or relavent to what they are trying to communicate.
In making these guides, I hope to contribute to the efforts of decolonizing knowledge exchange by creating a tool that facilitates this.
Huaco de Maíz publication; 2022.
