drinking in the kitchen

Drinking in the Kitchen deals with female negotiation of the urban space through the conduit of the domestic space. This work is derived from the early feminist work Semiotics of the Kitchen, by Martha Rosler. The work seeks to reposition the kitchen as refuge from the discomfort inherent in meeting the external city’s economic demands with the often limited resources available to women. Low income, repetitive labour and further social pressures such as the threat of violence in ubran centres and the barrage of perpetual advertising commodifying the female body makes one feel like staying inside, and staying at home. And yet, home also often doubles as the sphere of domestic violence. In the North American city, many women are drinking in the kitchen where the stigma of female alcoholism in the public sphere perpetuates a sense of shame only leading to further efforts towardsa a kind of self-induced concealment.

Edmonton, Alberta
Visualeyez
Latitude 53 Gallery
Curated by Todd Janes
2007

Photography: Jessica Tse