During the last three years, Celestial Peach, a platform founded by community organiser and writer Jenny Lau, has hosted #ChineseFoodiesofIG, an Instagram series inviting diasporic voices of Chinese heritage to discuss food and identity. To mark its 100th interview, the platform has launched an online food illustration exhibition today (25 January), asking 40 artists to illustrate responses to one question posed throughout the series: “What Does Home Taste Like?” Each artist visualises an individual interviewee’s response.
The “subjective” and “personal” brief question was chosen by curator Jenny Lau as one that always revealed delightful answers; illustration was chosen as the medium. “Food illustration has really been enjoying its moment in the past few years as a creative alternative to food photography, which has at times been hindered by the pandemic”, Jenny Lau tells It’s Nice That. “I’ve found that illustrators are chomping at the bit to visualise food!” The exhibition features the work of 40 artists and quotes from the interview that inspired the work; it is currently on display on the Celestial Peach site.
Diverse aesthetics feature throughout, “from hand-drawn charcoal sketches to some bonkers 3D stuff”, says Jenny. The artworks are available for purchase as limited edition postcard packs, with all profits donated to the London Chinese Community Centre. Some of the founder’s highlights include work from Kaitlin Chan, “who encapsulated 73-year-old David R. Chan’s life story in just a few story frames” and Edward Luper, whose “literal interpretation of the classic Chinese dish ‘Buddha Jumps Over The Wall’ for this exhibition ought to be in a museum”, Jenny states.
Other participating artists include: Alejandro Chen Li, Amy Phung, Bess Chan, Charlotte Mei, Cherie Kwok, Chin Lin Gan, Christine Apiou, Claud Yousuf, Ei T, Elina Tanaka, Erica Ho, Gemini Cheng, Giulia Lai, Grace Wong, Kayla Sik Chi Lui, Hannah Kwan Cosselmon, Ida Lehtonen, Jennifer Ho, Jessica Ah-Kye, Jessie Thavonekham, Jonah Schulz, Justin Wu, Karlie Wu, Karon Ng, Katy Wang, Kenn Lam, Mildred Cheng, Morokoth Fournier, Nicole Tan, Oscar Sjöstrand, Penny N, Poppy Seen Yee, PQ Choi, Ruby Lau, Shian Ng, Thomas Hedger, Xinyue Pan, and Yuk Fun.
The first 100 interviews in the #ChineseFoodiesofIG series are available online, featuring chefs, writers and bloggers such as Grace Young, The Woks of Life and Helen Goh. “In the 100 interviews, you will discover stories of family, migration, national identity, cultural pride,” says Jenny. “These 100 stories have accompanied me on my own journey of cultural rooting. I guess I was really trying to find — or taste — my way home.”
