YOON, Soo Jung

Kitchen of Nomad - Doen Jang Soup

Video & Photography & Drawing, 2018

Single‭ ‬Channel Video with sound

「‭ ‬Nakaw‭'‬s Kitchen‭ ‬–‭ ‬Ganko Tribe in Hwalien 」 , 8‭'‬20 

「‭ ‬Lili‭'‬s Kitchen‭ ‬–‭ ‬Taromak Tribe in Taitung 」 , 7‭'‬58

「 Hui Chun‭'‬s Kitchen‭ ‬–‭ ‬Chunggong in Taitung 」 , 12‭'‬43‭  ‬

Photography‭,‬ Digital‭ ‬C-print‭,‬ 52.8‭ ‬x 38.2‭ ‬x‭ ‬8‭ ‬pcs, 29.7‭ ‬x 21 x‭ ‬12‭ ‬pcs

Drawing‭ & ‬Texts, Dried Plantes‭ & ‬Black Ink‭ ‬‭ ‬on Paper, 52.8‭ ‬x 38.2‭ ‬x‭ ‬5pcs, 38.2‭ ‬x 26‭ ‬x‭ ‬16‭ ‬pcs

When I work and live in various places like nomad, my consistent interest is 'people' and ‘individual life’, specially what they eat/drink, how they wear and where they live. In this project I focused on what and how the people eat/drink. I think that the individual's life and memories are mirrors reflecting the culture and history of the group or country. The reason why 'food' and 'kitchen (space to make and consume food)' are one of the core that the culture of a country is collectively melted. The process of 'cooking food using fire and water and then putting it in a bowl' will be similar everywhere. However, obviously, production soil where food ingredients are made will be different, and the foods that are born by the dress, space, religion, customs of the cooker, show off various shapes, colours and incense, and makes our five senses happy.

This project was completed through communication and collaboration with the local peoples in Southeast of Taiwan(Ganko tribe in Hualien, Chunggong and Taromak tribe in Taitung), specially with aborigines. I did cooking to using local ingredients by Korean recipe. Firstly, I went to the local market to buy basic materials, or I got a local or a home- grown ingredients, and then I made Doenjang (soybean paste) soup. At last I shared to eat it with the locals. And I tried to study and talk about the ingredients of the food we eat, where they came from and how they were produced. In other words, I tried to contact with local peoples. I wanted to have time to see, hear, taste, share, feel and understand their life and culture through food. Furthermore, we can understand more about the relationship between culture and environment. And we can communicate together and exchange something during eating with others.