Day: October 4, 2020

When browsing through Albert Chong’s galleries, I noticed how he used coconut shells to adorn the main subjects of his pieces in both his installation artwork—“Marker For A Violated Gravesite” and “Yin Yang Us Them”—and Thrones artwork, “Copper Throne with Feathered Clay Figure” and “Blessing the Throne.”

Coconuts are versatile fruits. Not only is the flesh a nutritious food source abundant with calories, but coconuts also provide potable water, fiber that can be turned into durable rope, and a sturdy shell that can be used for cooking and even the production of charcoal. Moreover, although there is a wide variety of coconuts, coconuts can be divided into two main categories: niu vai and niu kafa. The niu vai coconut is a rich source of coconut water and is relatively round in shape. The other type of coconut, niu kafa, is longer and contains more fiber in its husk. source: http://meal.nextohm.com/products/coconut/

Upon examining the DNA of “1300 coconuts from all over the world,” biologist Kenneth M. Olsen discovered that coconuts were originally cultivated in two disparate locations: the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. On the Pacific Ocean side, coconuts were grown in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. On the Indian Ocean side, coconuts were commonly grown in the southern portion of India, the Maldives, and the Laccadives. Thousands of years ago, Austronesians supposedly transported coconuts from the Pacific Ocean area to countries dispersed throughout the Indian Ocean via trade routes bridging Southeast Asia to East Africa (Lutz).

At the beginning of the 16^th century, coconuts were brought to Europe through the Silk Road by Vasco da Gama and other Portuguese traders (Ganeshram). Once introduced to the general public, Europeans thought that coconut shells had “magical healing powers,” and they utilized coconut shells as “goblets” by placing valuable gemstones and metals inside (Ganeshram). Additionally, during the slave trade and the colonization of the Caribbean islands, European travelers brought coconuts with them so they could flourish and propagate in the tropical environment. Due to the three circles resembling two eyes and a mouth located at the bottoms of coconuts, these traders started to call coconuts “coco-nut” based on the Portuguese word “cocuruto,” which translates to “the crown of the head.” In Spanish, “coco” also means skull.

Before reading about the history of coconuts, I wondered why Albert Chong decided to include coconut shells in his pieces. However, after learning that the word coconut was derived from the Spanish and Portuguese words for “crown of the head” and “skull,” perhaps Chong uses this fruit to represent his descendants’ dark history.

Works Cited:

Ganeshram, Ramin. “Cracking Coconut’s History.” AramcoWorld, Jan. 2017, www.aramcoworld.com/Articles/January-2017/Cracking-Coconut-s-History.

Lutz, Diana. “Deep history of coconuts decoded. The Source, 13 Jan. 2016, source.wustl.edu/2011/06/deep-history-of-coconuts-decoded/.

In Part 2 of The Book of Salt, Binh describes the phase in his life when he was searching for employment as a personal cook in Paris. Alone and unemployed in an area far from home, he finds comfort in the kitchens of any potential employer extending an offer. “Every kitchen is a homecoming, a respite, where I am the village elder, sage and revered. Every kitchen is a familiar story that I can embellish with saffron, cardamom, bay laurel, and lavender,” (19) he remarks. Given what the readers know about Binh up until this point, he once worked as a garde-manger (someone in charge of cold food preparation) for the Governor-General in Vietnam years before his arrival in Paris, “sculpting potatoes into perfect little spheres, carving chunks of turnips into swans” (16). Thus, it is unsurprising that he finds comfort and agency in the kitchens that have become his livelihood. In the kitchen, he has various ingredients and spices to his command. Among the spices mentioned is saffron, historically known as the most expensive spice in the world.

The spice we call saffron is the actually stigma (or pollen-bearing structure) of the flower Crocus sativus, or the autumn crocus.The cultivation of saffron was believed to have originated around 2300 B.C. in the Eastern Mediterranean region in what is now Iran and Kashmir. The production and harvest of saffron as a commodity was (and still is) extremely labor-intensive – one pound of saffron is the culmination of 75,000 blossoms. As such, saffron became the most expensive spice in the world, affordable only to kings and the nobility. Its trade across the Mediterranean and Asia became lucrative due to its medicinal qualities that were often believed to be magical. For example, during the Black Death pandemic in Medieval Europe, saffron was imported in boatloads as a remedy for the plague. An incident known as the Saffron War transpired where a baron intercepted a shipment of saffron, resulting in a three-month battle that ultimately helped instigate the cultivation of saffron in Europe.

Given his time spent in the kitchens of wealthy European households, it is unsurprising that Binh finds familiarity in saffron and the various other expensive spices that would likely appear with it. While home as a location in Vietnam is inaccessible to Binh in Paris, he experiences the concept of home in the kitchens and the ingredients to his command as a cook. Home, an elusive yet essential feeling, exists for him in his power over the spices he knows and can use to fabricate his own story. I find it apt that he finds home in the world’s most expensive spice – but unlike saffron, the feeling of home transcends monetary value and becomes priceless.

 

Works Cited

“The History of Saffron.” Sativus.com, https://www.sativus.com/en/saffron/history/. Accessed 4 October 2020.

“Saffron.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/saffron. Accessed 4 October 2020.

“Chef Garde Manger or Pantry Chef: Job and Salary.” Culinary Schools.org, https://www.culinaryschools.org/chef-types/pantry-chef/. Accessed 4 October 2020.

In The Book of Salt, chapter 8 begins with a simple recipe: “Twenty-four figs, so ripe that their skins are split./A bottle of dry port wine./One duck./Twelve hours.”  I decided to research into figs, which are soaked in the port in a jug (ch 8, sorry I have an ebook so I don’t know the page number).  The fig has been represented in literature for a long time.  In the the epic poem The Mahavamsa, the fig travels from the tree under which Budda “attained enlightenment,” to the Ganges River, to the Bay of Bengal, to Sri Lanka (Shanahan).  This fig, however, was the F. religiousa fig of the 750+ fig species.  The strangler fig species are spread by birds and animals that drop their seeds high on the forest canopy.  Indonesia and Barbados both have the strangler fig on their coat of arms.  Another species of fig is the Ficus benghalensis, or Indian banyan, which can grow extremely large with branches so thick that they look like the trunks of oak trees. Every species has its own different wasp pollinator species.  Because the wellbeing of the wasp and the partner Ficus species are so linked, they have to make fruit year round.  Figs are linked to the history of human evolution – their high source of nutritional energy allowed development of larger brains and some people theorize our hands developed the way they did to discern which figs were soft and ready to eat (Shanahan).  The many types of figs mirror the different experiences with figs represented in The Book of Salt. The soft, fresh figs are a far cry from prior experience.

Shanahan, Mike. Earth – The Tree That Shaped Human History. 17 Jan. 2017, www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170116-the-tree-that-shaped-human-history.

 

After looking through a number of Chong’s works, it was clear that several of his installations involved duck feathers – including Winged Evocations, Throne for the Third Millennium, Sunday Dinner for the Ancestors, and Substitute Sacrifice. The description of Substitute Sacrifice explains that the 100 pounds of duck feathers that adorn the floor around a cross represent the number of birds necessary for a ritual to cleanse the cross for its role in oppressing and enslaving African people. Generally, Chong’s installation work explores mysticism and religion across cultures, traversing Christianity to Santeria to Rastafari. In Substitute Sacrifice, he is looking critically at how “christianizing of enslaved Africans was seen as one of the justifications for slavery.”

The duck feathers are likely a nod to Santeria sacrificial rituals, in which followers sacrifice animals (commonly chickens and ducks) for their mortal deities, Orishas, to sustain them. Typically, they then eat the meat (the Orisha only consumes the blood) in an act of sharing with them. 

Chong’s own relationship with Santeria reappears in many of his pieces. For example, the RISD museum website discusses his Thrones for the Ancestors series saying “when composing his thrones, Chong charts his own enigmatic world, blending altars from the Yoruba-derived Caribbean Santeria religion and many forms of East Asian ancestor veneration.” Chong’s work is an amalgamation of spiritualities across geographic regions and peoples, which calls into question the relationships and intimacies between seemingly unrelated faiths. 

 

“Albert Chong.” RISD Museum, risdmuseum.org/art-design/collection/throne-justice-199764. 

“Installations.” Albert Chong, www.albertchong.com/installations/iu650iqkvux91h12qe7879gaaxztea.

“Religions – Santeria: Sacrifice.” BBC, BBC, 15 Sept. 2009, www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/santeria/ritesrituals/sacrifice.shtml.

While preparing for the upcoming class, I decided to look through Albert Chong’s Botanical and Other Observations Gallery*. I liked how he mixed life and death in this gallery. This was done in many ways, such as photographing a skull next to vibrant flowers, or freezing the development of a plant by taking a picture of a growing orchid seed pulled out of the earth. One of my favorite ways of showing life and death in this gallery was the picture of an open pomegranate. In Greek mythology, the fruit was part of a deal between Hades, God of the Underworld, and Persephone, daughter of the Goddess of Nature. When she ate four of the seeds, it meant that Persephone had to stay in the underworld for four months out of the year. During that time, her mother Demeter would mourn, and plants would die. For this post, I wanted to learn more about the fruit. Pomegranates are said to have originated in northern India, although it was quickly spread and grown all around the Mediterranean basin. The fruit was popular in royal banquets as well as desert caravans. In Judaism, it’s an important food for multiple reasons. It was said to have the same number of seeds (613) as there are mitzvah, or commandments, in the Torah. Because it has an abundance of seeds, pomegranates were also seen as a symbol of fertility. The sour fruit was brought over to the Americas by Spanish colonizers in the mid-1600s. All in all, pomegranates are a fruit chock-full of meaning.

*Just a heads up if you want to check out this specific gallery too; there are possibly disturbing images of pig fetuses.
https://www.albertchong.com/botanical-other-observations
https://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/myth-of-hades-and-persephone/

Pomegranate History

Mitzvah: A Commandment

Artist Albert Chong is not afraid to push against agendas. Born in 1958 in Kingston, Jamaica, Chong’s resume is extremely impressive and he currently is a professor of arts at the University of Colorado in Boulder. With a focus on visual arts, Chong’s contemporary works focus on race and identity with an analysis on Asian and African Diaspora to create intimate portrayals of human figures in a near mystical sense. As the youngest of eight children, it seemed fitting that he was chosen by the Absolut Vodka company to produce a piece of artwork for their exhibition which would be titled “Absolut Chong” that was created within a two page magazine spread published in 2002.

Absolut Vodka was founded in 1879 in (not Russia) but Sweden in an act of competition against Stockholm’s marketing monopoly on alcohol. By selling his products outside of the city border, founder Lars Olsson Smith was able to legally produce his goods and build a small vodka empire around him.

The production of vodka is from the distillation of wheat or rye allowing its mass production to be cheap and efficient. The actual start of vodka is unclear as both the Russians and Polish have laid claim to the drink. Nevertheless, vodka is dated as early as the 900s to be used as a disinfectant and was taken as a beverage  in honey derived mead for a means of becoming intoxicated during festivals and other celebrations.

Vodka’s significance in Russia is worth mentioning, the Russian Vodka Museum founder went on a record in saying “The whole history of Russian culture is tied to vodka” as its accessibility is one that can be easily enjoyed by any economic class. In this sense, Chong is showcasing his worldly views through the form of a sponsorship. Most noticeably is the more psychedelic colors that contrast his previous bright images and the lack of distinct figures is an ode to the cultural struggle that one has and the confusing intoxication that coincides with alcohol.

Works Cited:

“Albert Chong.” Art and Art History, 5 Sept. 2018, www.colorado.edu/artandarthistory/albert-chong.