/
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
Dirty Dishes, 2020
From the origins of existence, when the first humanoid picked up a rock, bone, or stick and hit someone else - human kind has - warred, fought, killed, raped, stolen, traumatized, and colonized.
Despite the presence of love, education, beauty, kindness, art, compassion, and the innocence of children, each part of the earth’s inhabitants have endured systemic abuses leading to very difficult histories that need to be dealt with.
You can see it in the streets and on the news. The dirty dishes of our past will never be cleaned away. Change comes from rising up and taking responsibility, to pay tribute to the indigenous people whose land we are on, enable reparations for slavery, and make sure that basic human rights such as food, shelter, and health care are met for all.
Food is political. The dishes that we eat on can survive longer than generations of human life. The dishes in this work represent thousands of years of oppression - including the Trump Mara Lago crystal glass. Even Joy has been discontinued, it is vintage and out of date. The lemon fresh scent can’t clean away generations of trauma, however the possibility of cleansing is always present.
*all images by Joel Tsui