Dear Friends of the “Artblog Atlas of Art and Food in Philadelphia,” this will be our final update on the Atlas before noon on June 3, our deadline for receiving pledges! Many thanks are in order! We now have 47 backers and $3,052 pledged! But you and your friends can still join in! Below is a enjoy an excerpt from the book:
We talked with Justin Favela in April and the Las Vegas-based Latinx artist renowned for hand-made pinatas, that riff on issues in the world relating to treatment of Latinos and indigenous peoples, both historically and contemporaneously. Favela’s pinatas are bright and joyful, and the content reflects the artist’s love of Latino culture and a critique of colonialism and white dominance. Justin is a “foodie,” and co-host of the now-archived, popular podcast, “Latinos Who Lunch.” Here’s some of what he said when we talked.
ATLAS EXCERPT – “I think that a lot of times, especially in the United States, an ice breaker, an entry point to other people’s culture, is their food. And I realized that at a really young age, as a Latinx American…it’s this thing that’s really fun to talk about, but it’s also… for people of color, it could be a microaggression. You meet an Indian person and you start talking about Curry with them. They’re more than Curry. Right? And, Latinos are more than tacos, and rice and beans.
“And so, a lot of my work is about taking hold of the narrative and saying, “Okay, well, I don’t know why people are asking me about tacos and burritos all the time, but I’m gonna really lean into it and investigate this, and become this hyper version of somebody that talks about tacos and Mexican food.
“I know that for Latinos, for Chicanos that Taco Bell is very inauthentic Mexican food. And so I like to poke fun at people that are Taco Bell haters because there’s this really strong notion about what is “authentically Mexican. And I think that’s dangerous because Mexico is such a vast country when it comes to the different types of cuisine within the regions of Mexico, that Mexican food is so much more than just one thing, right?”
The Kickstarter campaign for the Artblog Atlas is live until noon TOMORROW, 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 noon on 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
