Gastropeotics Exhibition + Dinner

Curatorial Statement by Michael Rangel

The term Gastropoetics was first coined in 2002 by Parama Roy when she closely examined how diasporic and migrant narratives are interpreted through the archives of colonial food practices for diasporic migrants. Other postcolonial scholars later describe gastropoetics as an alternative form of knowledge production or act whereby food becomes both intellectual and emotional anchors for social construction, archiving, and communication. Together, Jamaican American and Haitian American diasporic artists Kirk Henriques and Alexandra Antoine, respectively, visualize the beauty and the future of gastropoetics through their visual art making that interweaves the intimacies of food, language, grief, love, and desire. Together, they share a vision, of and for food, that is to be examined not only within the body but outside of it through our senses of taste, touch, sight, smell, and sound.

For Alexandra Antoine, a farmer and interdisciplinary artist, she explores the elements of life and death for Black folk and how food and land act and perform as sacred storytellers that preserve the legacies of Black folks from the Caribbean (more broadly) and Haiti (more specifically) for generations. 

As part of the Gastropoetics exhibition, artist Alexandra Antoine hosted a 3-Course dinner centered around her ancestral lineage where each course was paired with a question that guided diners throughout the experience. Each of the four tables had an altar box centerpiece representing four ancestors from the artist’ lineage. The dinner was inspired by the work of Vertamae Grosvnor and her book “Vibration Cooking.” The menu featured several ingredients found within Haitian cuisine including hibiscus, stewed goat, yuca, cornmeal and beets.