kaikai re-creates my grandma's dinner table and her handmade zongzi (粽子), a glutinous rice dish involving hours in preparation of ingredients, wrapping and cooking.
The installation features a circular table covered in a bold-patterned tablecloth, chairs and a lazy Susan. The casted 粽子 rests in an unfurled plastic bag and in coconut serving bowls on top of the lazy Susan. By inserting a domestic setting within a gallery, these commonplace elements are amplified.
A translation of ‘food/meal’ in Pidgin English, kaikai references my family’s migration from Hong Kong to Solomon Islands to Australia. It is an ode to the endurance of culinary handicrafts and its ingrained values of compassion, generosity, and love.
Photography by Silversalt.