Dear Friends of the Artblog Atlas of Art and Food in Philadelphia, we are back with an update on the Atlas! First, though, more thanks are in order! We now have 47 backers and $3,052 pledged! Hooray! More on that below, but first, an excerpt from the book:
ATLAS EXCERPT – We contacted Shivon Pearl Love of Our Mothers’ Kitchens, about participating in the Artblog Atlas, and she wanted to be involved and suggested she and her sister-friend Khaliah D. Pitts, who co-created Our Mothers’ Kitchens with her, would write an essay explaining the impetus for the project. We are proud to present their words:
“…This project began in the kitchen, from a shared love for one another and our community, passion for Black people and cultures and reverence for food and landwork. It was at Shivon’s kitchen table where we spent day after day, morning bleeding into afternoon, breakfast plates replaced by lunch dishes, coffee cups filled and refilled. In the midst of kitchen scents, Black music, artwork and books we dreamt and conceived a way to help our communities reconnect with our cultures, and ultimately ourselves, through food and literature.
“We met almost ten years ago as fellow nutrition educators, working at a PWI, with a reprehensible history specifically as it pertains to Black Philadelphians. During our tenure, the institution continued to perpetuate this legacy through gentrification and masking resources and education in whiteness. And we were, Black women, teaching Black children, in majority Black schools, in majority Black neighborhoods. As educators, we were directed to teach the standard national nutrition curriculum, which we can now openly acknowledge is in opposition to what is best for Black bodies and our communities. Further, it was a curriculum rooted, like the rest of our education system, in pathology and deficit-based research and practice. It was almost completely inaccessible to our communities.” – by Shivon Pearl Love and Khaliah D. Pitts
Moving past our goal! This campaign is live until noon on THIS FRIDAY, June 3. We would love to receive more support to print more copies and distribute them free to more high school students! A pledge of $10 (or more) by June 3 helps propel this book closer to publication! We have already passed our goal by $250, meaning we will provide an additional surprise reward to all our backers!! We love our community, value your support, and believe in giving back.
Thank you for your help!
Artblog Atlas Team
Ashwin, Ilana, Morgan, Patrick, Roberta, Tessa
