Amanny Ahmad
Amanny Ahmad (she/her) is a Palestinian-American artist, chef, land worker, and folk herbalist, currently based in the high altitude desert of the land of the Pueblo People, Taos, New Mexico. In her research-based practice, she studies things small & large: whole systems design, food as language, land as life, historical & contemporary relationships between humans & non humans, botany, mycology, indigenous culinary traditions & plant use, histories of resistance; and how those things can teach us about preservation, survival, and world-making. Her research culminates in a variety of forms: writing, photographs, objects, garden design, fermentation, herbal medicines, and most publicly, large scale meals, often cooked over live fire, incorporating wild ingredients. Being in, on, of, and with the land is her main priority & joy.
Rumbling and growling we arrive At the Table, but the sounds are not only from hungry stomachs or digestion – they are echoes of global trade, political powerlessness, colonial histories and unaccommodating social norms. Acknowledging the grip that food scarcity and abundance has on our lives, the artworks in this exhibition recognise what a food-dependent body is.
Candid narratives reveal the multifaceted origins of our everyday ingredients, evoking fundamental questions about how our bodies interact with food, and ultimately the world around us. The works prompt us to be attentive to the intellectual and bodily digestion that we continuously part-take in, considering that we metabolise artworks much like food.
This exhibition is a response to how we, as eaters, consume the politics of our food infrastructures. From the Earth to our mouth, eating is a collaborative act that confronts us with our inescapable reliance on one another. Through edible artworks, food happenings and participatory activities, visitors are welcomed At the Table to leave traces, like bread crumbs, for others to consume.
At The Table is paired with three different food happenings that tackle various appetites. For the opening, Micheline Nahra will host a food experience shaped by the paradox
of diplomacy. At the Brandstof, Seasonal Neighbours will present in-depth groundwork about migrants in the farming industry that supply
us with year-round fresh produce. For Natafelen, Amanny Ahmad will provision a Palestinian dinner foraged from industrialised and natural landscapes.