Set The Table
St. John’s Garden, London
July 2021
Co-curator

Co-curated with Yurika Imaseki and Renee Xinying Zhong
Work by Maria Joranko, Navi Kaur, and Katie Surridge

Set The Table explores the connections that three artists - Maria Joranko, Navi Kaur, and Katie Surridge - have with food. Through installations and participatory performances, the project traces how processes of cultivation, preparation, and consumption work to form delicate networks between people and places. Mapping the intersections of food, migration, community, and identity, Set The Table evokes the experience of eating together, providing opportunities to spark complex conversations, whether in consensus or dissensus. Harnessing the power of food to generate visceral, sensorial memories, a wide entry point is created for anyone to join in and engage with themes of intimacy, collectivity, and forming new relationships with people or with the land. Set The Table provides a safe and welcoming space for new bonds to form, even if for a brief moment, between friends, acquaintances, or strangers.

a Deptford X 2021 Fringe event.

Image Credits:
1. Fruit of our Families: conversation and shared lineages at St. John’s Vale, performance by Maria Joranko
2. Set The Table, installation view
3. The Stone Soup, performance by Katie Surridge