The folks at Mexican food and art cultural project Fondita Mestiza are continuing to make good on their mission to build a mestizo community that weaves bridges between cultures by inviting artists resident in Ireland to participate in an upcoming collective art exhibition centered around the theme of Pan de Muerto.
The traditional Mexican sweet bread plays a significant role in annual celebrations to mark the Day of the Dead, and is usually served in the weeks leading up to and during Día de los Muertos. Hugely popular in Mexico, it is estimated that approximately 80% of households there buy this bread on November 1st and 2nd.
The upcoming exhibition will explore the cultural, historical, and artistic significance of Pan de Muerto through a diverse range of visual art forms, and artists are encouraged to submit original works that interpret and represent this theme.
Selected artworks will subsequently feature in a collective exhibition at their much anticipated ‘Dinner with Art’ event, which takes place from November 2nd to December 7th. The final deadline for submissions is noon on October 15th, 2024.
Meanwhile, this month’s innovative Food with Art (The Kitchen Archives) project, features a weekly performance at Fondita Mestiza that re-imagines dining as a platform for exploring issues of cultural consumption and systemic racism.
The project combines the performative nature of eating with the discussion dynamics of a round-table by using food as both a means and an end. Integrating statistics, archival material, and personal testimonies from Mexican restaurant workers in Dublin, the performance highlights their experiences of structural inequality and discrimination. In this way “the meal itself becomes a living embodiment of these issues, inviting the audience to engage directly with the often unseen realities behind cultural products.”
“Dinner with Art” takes place in Ringsend on consecutive Saturdays throughout October. The event includes a three-course menu, featuring dishes inspired by Mexican cuisine, accompanied by flavoured water. €40 per person, for more information, send an email to: fonditamestiza@gmail.com
Words: Martina Murray
