Art Pop-Up with Sammy Seung-Min Lee: Very Proper Table Setting

634 Pleasant Street,New Bedford MA 02740

19 July, 2022

Description

Presented in New Bedford by Rhonda M. Fazio of Interwoven: Join MassMoCA artist-in-residence Sammy Seung-Min Lee for an art-popup of Very Proper Table Setting on Tuesday, July 19th, at two locations: 3:00pm-5:00pm: Serenity Gardens, Bedford St, New Bedford, MA (outside, open to all, no need to RSVP, and part of Coastal Foodshed's Mobile Farm Stand)6:00pm-8:00pm: Interwoven, 634 Pleasant St, New Bedford, MA (inside, open to all, please RSVP, at Rhonda M. Fazio's Interwoven gallery and maker space)The project begins with a series of experiments centering around setting tables. Lee invites visitors to arrange imaginary meals for a loved one using Korean dinnerware. When participants conceive a specific dish from their own culture and are unable to find a suitable serving vessel, they experience feelings common amongst newly settled immigrants, such as inadequacy to fit into the mainstream culture or inability to properly represent their own customs. "Very Proper Table Setting is inspired by my own experience of searching seven years for a bowl in which to serve my family's noodle soup recipe. My goal is to create a safe and empathic place to explore how cultural adaption can take root in curiosity rather than careless appropriation." -- Sammy Seung-Min Lee Many participants who used a past relationship as inspiration for their exercise found the process healing. Through the universal act of setting a table, many experienced feelings of disorientation, rapport, adaptation, and a sense of community through memories of a loved one. In the final art piece, these unique personal narratives displayed through each table setting will come together as a large community dining table. The quiet power of Very Proper Table Setting rests in its engagement of our caring and restorative impulses at a time when almost any issue can further splinter partisan divides. studiosmlk.com Rhonda M. Fazio is an Environmental Alchemist whose work with food and fabric reflect the essential connection between people from all over the world in relation to the journey of the human narrative. In America, it is a story we all share, and we are all Interwoven because of it.​ rhondamfazio.com Photos by Brian Orozco @brian.oro