kitchen freedom

In the installation, 40’s and 50’s kitchen images and objects are combined with “subversive” images from Celtic tradition, suggesting historical and contemporary alternatives for women. The inspiration and starting point for this complex work was a series of radio programs, titled The Voice that Brings You Kitchen Freedom, presented in the late 40s by the artist’s mother, Betty Gibb when she worked for the Blue Flame Kitchen. The program offered recipes and household hints to a largely female audience, unintentionally promoting the general notion that woman belonged (back) in the kitchen after the wider range of activities they had undertaken during WW2. The piece explored how women’s lives have often been circumscribed by politics and economics; the work presents an alternative view arising from the ancient Celtic past that saw women as revered keepers of the hearth.

Details

2000

Video, sound, stoves, window, table, radio, dresses, framed digital prints.