early summer heaven

this art book is an installation and public performance piece. four recipe poems build the interiority of the box, reflecting food items also packaged inside. they are as follows: elderberry & peanut butter sandwiches, karak custard bao, peach-balsamic-saffron-cardamom jam, & vanilla-chocolate butter cookies. all of these are fusion foods meant to reflect learning recipes through movement & oral retellings.

each poem is spread along a simple 8-fold print, with the text creating vague instructions that are ultimately up to the viewer to discern if they yield true recipes or not. this performance is a display of trust — that the reader can trust the recipes to become, regardless of how they read — that the participants are able to approach an unlabeled box reading only “Please Open” & discover & savor it’s interiors. as many art books enter exhibition and contemporary spaces, this book asks what function it serves for it’s viewers.

once opened, the books must be consumed — both through reading & through eating. in the manner that a book can only be read for the first time once, any food material can only be eaten for the first time once. after the installation, the book is displayed with but hollow, bunched up tissue papers. no matter how many times you return to the same place — things will have changed.