Capital artist residency
Culinarialism by Umar Rashid (Frohawk Two Feathers)
“Party with villains (Part 5)... The guests arrive at the gilded manor of Lord Robert Sidney to much excess, fanfare, and sentinels, at Belhaven. All under the watchful eye of Proteus, god of the waters, and his celestial attendants. Belhaven, Virginia. 1794.” by Umar Rashid (Frohawk Two Feathers)
A residency-culminating exhibition imagines a Colonial Era fête of global dignitaries (with anachronistic pop culture references like a basketball game and BBQ) whose arrival feast is interrupted by an uprising led by enslaved people.
Attendance Details
Gallery Hours (subject to change): Friday-Sunday from 12-6pm
Dates: Friday Sept. 24—Nov. 21, 2021
Location: Sandlot Southeast (Get Directions)
Free Admission, Donations Welcome
Hosted by Sandlot Southeast, in partnership with MRP Realty
Exhibit Information
Culinarialism, specifically focuses on class dynamics of food while poignantly acknowledging the DC area’s problematic history as an epicenter of inhumane international trade practices. The show utilizes the narrative framework of a ritzy dinner party attended by colonizers and visiting global dignitaries—the ultimate embodiment of how food that’s available exclusively to a privileged class has always reached their plates at immense human and environmental cost. While researching during his residency, Rashid learned about harmful recurrences that span history, from mass enslavements for the sole purpose of food production, to various iterations of the contemporary issue of how quinoa was an Andean nutrition staple until global trends drove prices up to an extent that precluded its regional accessibility.
In the events depicted across the exhibition’s 17 works, Rashid punctuates the wealthy dignitaries’ feast with an uprising led by enslaved people. The show’s six large paintings, which feature anachronistic pop culture references like a game of basketball and a barbeque, detail various sequential stages of the event: the preparation and reception of goods; the hunting of animals; the parties and dancing; the meal itself; and the uprising that ends the festivities, assisted in part by divine intervention from the Yoruba gods. The second grouping, eleven wood-mounted, ink-onpaper works that have undergone a tea-pigment aging process, includes smaller pieces like regional maps and portraits of Belhaven (the fictional region’s titular colonizer) and his associates, as well as portraits of the opposition movement’s leadership.
COVID Safety Measures
As we return to in-person programming, its important that we’re prioritizing the health of CulturalDC staff, artists, and audiences. Our team is fully vaccinated. We will continue to update our protocols to keep up with the latest regulations and vaccine rollout.
Installation Photography
by: Vivian Doering
