Machine of Love and Sacrifice
I collected used kitchenware from households and flea markets in China and transform these objects marked by time into sculptures. Drawing on visual and bodily forms physically and symbolically associated with the passage of time - clockwork gears, hourglasses, and pregnant bellies - the sculptures explore the materialization and embodiment of time in everyday labor. Each sculpture subsequently enters into interaction with the bodies of women who are deeply involved in the kitchen as a historically gendered space.
The project examines the material legacy of cooking and questions its peripheral position within the capitalist system of value, where repetitive domestic labor is often made invisible because of little measurable economic value. By transforming used kitchen utensils and bringing them into bodily interaction, I re-activate these materials in ‘zombie’ state, which have ceased to functioning as tools, yet remain materially charged with the histories of labor embedded in them. Through material transformation, the everyday repetition and erasure of kitchen labor is rendered tangible and restores its physical connection to the body of laborer.
This project is made possible by the generous support of the Reisma van den Burg Cultuurfonds.
I collected used kitchenware from households and flea markets in China and transform these objects marked by time into sculptures. Drawing on visual and bodily forms physically and symbolically associated with the passage of time - clockwork gears, hourglasses, and pregnant bellies - the sculptures explore the materialization and embodiment of time in everyday labor. Each sculpture subsequently enters into interaction with the bodies of women who are deeply involved in the kitchen as a historically gendered space.
The project examines the material legacy of cooking and questions its peripheral position within the capitalist system of value, where repetitive domestic labor is often made invisible because of little measurable economic value. By transforming used kitchen utensils and bringing them into bodily interaction, I re-activate these materials in ‘zombie’ state, which have ceased to functioning as tools, yet remain materially charged with the histories of labor embedded in them. Through material transformation, the everyday repetition and erasure of kitchen labor is rendered tangible and restores its physical connection to the body of laborer.
This project is made possible by the generous support of the Reisma van den Burg Cultuurfonds.
