Some of my class mates work ...

Joseph Tarei
I love the use of the Macro lens in this photo I also like the colour contrast of the wall and image as it makes the photo stand out.

Sam Auta

I like the composition and how Sam used props like, what you might see in a record store

Courtney Leona

Courtney is so good at making pacifika patterns and I like how she used red,black and white it is very striking

Kendra Leilua

This is one of my favourite installation I love how Kendra was passionate about the Siva and it shows in these images

Seini Fameitau

The basketball game was just an added bonus

Soulz Talosaga

When you are passionate about something as we know Soulz is about Tupac

Barbara Neemia

I loved the scale of this work and how the photo of our Librarian looked like a painting from afar

Pale Ailaoa

These were my buddies work his illustrations are really fantastic

Pascal Bridger

How clever yo use the sayings of youth I think Pascal slayed it

Katie Dzaferic

Just one of my favourite images from this series I liked Katies use of negative space.I'm not familiar with Chromatic aberration it's rather trippy

Jackie Wilson

Carol Seu

It was so nice to go to Carols chapel it was so peaceful and I liked how interesting it was how she set up her photos both inside and outside of her chapel windows.

A question was posed by my Lecturer ... "What makes this Art?"

A question was posed to me by my lecturer "What makes this art?" And I had to think about it "a lot!" ...

Did I think I could cook and serve kai and call it art? What was and where did my idea come from?

To be honest I think it started with what my fellow students were eating for lunch how cheap, deep fried and full of sugar there food was. I also did a collaborated work last year about how we need to get back to sitting down at the dining table as families and looking at how processed the food is. It was at breakfast club I saw the change in people sitting down eating food and having conversations it seemed to me to be a great way to start the day.



On the 20th of May I had a lucky by chance conversation with Harriet Stockman from Public Share and I asked her to explain to me "What makes this art?"
She told me as artists who work with clay that it's starts with the site where they collect their clay, and the history of the site and so I guess my site would be Mikes garden or the earth in which the food I cook grows. The history could be a generational thing for both Mike and myself as all his family have both flower and vegetable gardens the knowledge passed down my his parents who had a huge family and it was one way to sustain such a large family. For me the history of food cooking came from my Dad as it was my responsibility to cook the dinner and from my grandmother who thought that her grandchildren should know how to cook and soup was one of her favourite things to teach us to make and my Poppa had a wonderful garden too. I am the main cook in our family and I have taught and continue to teach my children to cook.

I asked Mike about why he liked to garden. He said that he has always had a connection to the earth and the insects and their role in pollinating the plants. He likes getting his hands in the soil. He also mentioned that it was one way for him to provide for our family.






These are the hands of a sheet metalworker yet they produce some delectable fruit and vegetables.

Corn is one of my favourite vegetables it's such a shame that they are seasonable

Multiplying spring onion

Some of Mikes tomatoes weighed over 500g and this was the first year that he grew eggplant which is now one of my favourite vegetables.













It's quite exciting when Mike comes in from the garden and there is so much to choose from it's nice to know where and how the vegetables that we eat are grown.

One day I lay amongst the potatoes to take this photo and  I must admit it was very peaceful

So I have a lot of material to work with and it's not limited to seasons, weather or availability. 

Public Share is a collaboration of artists who have a common interest, Harriet said it's about working together and passing on your knowledge and sometimes the only way you can do this is through conversation. As a family we always eat at he table and our conversation is always about the day. When presenting my project it was nice to have everyone ask me questions about the food I served. It was also nice for me to see the conversation in some of the photos that Nia took for me.

In this photo Shadrick was asking me why I made soup and bread as my project. It was nice to be able to share with him what and why I was doing. 

Participatory art is the interaction between the maker and the audience. As the maker I guess the art is more about the conversation about the food rather than the eating of the food.

Food Photography

Vegetable and pork tortellini 

Roasted pork

At the caravan

Apple wonton and brown butter

Getting ready to make seafood chowder 

Prawn, pasta and cherry tomato salad

Mediterranean stuffed mushrooms 

Bailey chocolate truffles

Zucchini lemon slice

Cheese balls with gluten free crouton

Maori potato & egg salad

Zucchini Pickle

BBQ Roasted Pork and Chinese marinated pork

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Pizza, pasta and salad

Zucchini lemon curd

Garlic, white wine and cockles 

These are some of my food photography I try to incorporate as many of the vegetables from Mikes garden in my cooking. There's a part of me that wished I done food photography as my project but I'm glad I pushed myself and was able to share my food with my fellow students.

Shared lunch

With the Koha from breakfast club Pascal and I were able to come up with a menu of hangi cabbage,pork and chicken. I was able to make a potato minus, asian slaw and roasted vegetable couscous salad. Others pitched in and got plates, tissues, cups, juice, bread, steamed buns and chocolate cake. Rebecca also made banoffee pie. This was an amazing shared lunch to be able to share with our lecturers and fellow class mates a celebration for the end of a successful semester.

Kenneth Bailey, Design Studio for Social Intervention

Kenneth Bailey is an American urban designer and social activist who founded Boston Design for Social Intervention (DS4SI)
Social activism is an intentional action with the goal of bringing about socialchange. If you feel strongly about a cause and are working towards a change, you could be considered an activist. An activist is anyone who is fighting for change in society.

http://blog.americansforthearts.org/2012/05/04/the-public-kitchen-the-dilemma-of-evaluating-a-gesture

Kenneth bailey hired makers to make 2 mobile public kitchens which they took into the community to do cooking demos. It allowed the community to focus, talk and ask questions related to food. It allows the community to make connections with their neighbours.

2. 
   

There is a stigma about Soup kitchens and this is one of the definition I found on google

soup kitchen

noun

1. a place where free food is served to those who are homeless or destitute.
2. I like how Bailey has broken down this stigma by allowing everyone in the community to partake in sharing the food and food knowledge.
3. 
   

Final Project - Reflection

The morning started with an easy bread recipe from a friend I decided to serve a roll with the soup

I thought a bread roll would be nicer to serve opposed to a slice of homemade bread. Nia, Carol and I wrote the pumpkin soup recipe on a paper bag. I thought my class mates could either keep the recipe or they could use the bag as a rubbish bag to put the eco biodegradable utensil, tissue and cup in.

The soup recipe available for the other users of the student common room. 

When I saw this photo I was thinking how ironic that I have another image of Pascals hands with food

I'm always busy in the kitchen when we have family/friend shared dinners, so it was nice to be able to answer Pascal and Joseph about the bacon, toasted pumpkin seeds and sour cream which were extras for the soup if you wanted them.

Before she even knew what soup I made the first thing Katie said was ... can I smell pumpkin soup? Did you make pumpkin soup? I look at this image and it makes me smile. Katie had a second helping of the soup

Introducing my buddy Pale Ailaoa I was so rapt he made it to my presentation. In fact I was rapt that everyone made it :D  

A couple of photos of of my class mates eating the soup. It was actually nice to have a conversation with my class mates about the soup Pascal had tried ready made soup but said you can't beat homemade. Jason didn't like pumpkin but he liked the soup. Joseph said he couldn't wait to make the soup himself and everyone commented how nice it was. As a home and chief cook it was nice to hear everyones feed back. 

After a long morning I couldn't tell you what I was talking about but I know I was on a high, I was glad that most of the soup was gone at this stage and that my presentation was over and done with!

My Lecturer and some of my class mates ... manaakitanga right there!

Reflection : I always worry when serving food that someone might get ill I don't know why so I freaked out at the prospect of the soup not being heated through properly and hence I had to serve 1/2 an hour later than I anticipated. 

I wish I had some of Mikes pumpkins on display, later Mike said I could've taken some and cut them up for everyone to take home as we have a lot stored. 

I did ask Mike if he would like to join us and he would've if it wasn't for work commitments I think it would've been nice if he could answer any questions and to acknowledge him as his vegetable garden is where I get a lot of my food inspirations from. 

It would've been nice to have some photos of Mikes garden and his vegetable on display as maybe another talking point and to see what he grows.

I was glad I asked Nia to take photos for me and I showed her some of the photos that had already been taken and also showed her ones from the internet of ones that I'd really like taken so I realise the importance of explaining and directing someone to take images you want and I am pleased that Nia was able to do this for me.

I also appreciate the fact that Nia stayed and helped me clear up again I feel the manaakitanga.

On a personal note I found the research for this project of Participatory Art very hard and I wondered if doing Food Photography would've been easier but I realise I do this already by posting most of my food photos on Instagram and Facebook so I knew I would have to push myself to do this project especially when I was asked What makes this Art?