You Are Food, Artecitya Residency Thessaloniki Greece
You Are Food image by Lynn Peemoeller
The residency utilized local food culture, habits and traditions, as a means to activate and map public spaces as well as encourage meaningful communication and exchange between citizens from different backgrounds. Ethnographic interviews were conducted with urban agriculture pioneers who are transforming urban spaces with their knowledge, local economies and food production. Food waste and resourceful habits were observed and documented. Throughout the residency, local foods were foraged and produced to profile five distinctive flavors of Thessaloniki: sea salt, sour grapes, sweet apples, biiter olives, and umami fish paste. These ingredients were presented on locally baked and traditionally stamped bread to offer a public engagement on the perception and expression of local culture and taste. The project resulted in a living archive of oral and visual representations of food culture and urban agriculture in a changing city in relationship to local identity and heritage.