have you eaten yet ? collective
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2021 - 2023 Youngsook Choi, Jessie Jing & Monica Tolia Have you eaten yet? was a London-based collective project initiated by East and South-East Asian (ESEA) diaspora artists Youngsook Choi, Monica Tolia and Jessie Jing. Our name is the equivalent of 'how are you?' in many Asian cultures, the question carrying a tangible direct sense of care towards one’s livelihood & health, often leading to impromptu food sharing. With these care ethics in mind, the collective worked between research, performances and organising and curating events on the intersections of food, migration, art/activism & creating affectionate spaces after the events of the pandemic. Reflection statement: "HYEY collective was not only about eating, it was about using spaces of gathering, making and nourishing, so that we could collectively and personally engage in the necessary act of digestion. Digesting not only food, but difficult feelings, events that are taking place in the world, and attending to our spiritual and physical health through our guts. It takes guts to vocalise about what shocks/disturbs/agitates, but even more so to express our deepest desires and to prototype and model what we wish for the present moment. Because just like reaching too far into the past, too much rumination on the future can scatter our Yi 意 (the spirit-mind-digestive organ system). We know what feels good in our guts, and 'Have you eaten yet?' was an invitation and reminder to check our internal somatic registers in the present moment. What toxins remain in the gut that still need digesting? A toxin could be an emotional wound, a trauma, a recent or past event that has made its way into the body… and what can be introduced to restore the digestive balance?" OUR WORK: Lunar Late: Year of the Queer Rabbit, January 2023 A collaboration with Décalé and Asia Art Activism Lunar New Year Festival in collaboration with Vietnamese Family Partnership @ Deptford X & Deptford Lounge, 29&30 January 2022 Weekend of performances, workshops & traditional celebrations commissioned by shapesLewisham Creative Happenings Grant Programme, and supported by Deptford X, Deptford Lounge, Goldsmiths UoL & PPL PRS. PRESS RELEASE Harsh Light talk @ Bloc Projects, October 2021 Online webinar ESEA Heritage Month @ BESEA.N, September 2021 Roundtable: 'Between food, art & activism' Deptford X Festival 2021, 9-18 July 2021 Commissioned performance series & exhibition programme PRESS RELEASE CONTEXTUAL ESSAY BY MIMI CHU |
INSTAGRAM:
@HYEYCOLLECTIVE |