For the second Recipes for Change, Cecilia Cruz explores her interest in Mesoamerican culture and food to present a workshop that takes you on a spiritual and historical journey. Collaborating with Phaxsi Coca, an Andean musician from Bolivia, the duo talk about the history of and their own experiences of Maíz within ceremonies, poetry, mythology and tamales, a dish dating back to around 8000BC.
Cecilia Cruz is from Michoacán, a state on the Pacific Ocean to the southwest of Mexico. Cruz also took part in (The Great Exhibition of) The Works of Cash Crops, an installation and encounter convened by artist Rachel Pimm as part of the General Ecology programme. On this occasion, Cruz is reading found poetry and stories exploring her and her family’s social, political and geographic connection to Maíz.
Phaxsi Coca is a musician from Bolivia, celebrating the sounds of female energy with traditional Andean folklore and Latin American music. As part of the band WARMI, Coca works with original compositions to speak about the respect of Pachamama, Mother Earth, and the respect of women, children, love and life. For Coca, art and music hold a unique potential for expressing conscience, protest and love.
Building on the Radical Kitchen programme launched in 2017, this third season deepens our connections through food. The invited groups meet with visitors over a picnic to discuss the ways in which they create sustainable projects and campaigns in their communities. Themes of care, solidarity and resilience run throughout the work of the groups, who tackle issues as diverse as food poverty, migration and community empowerment.
