An inordinate amount of time has been devoted to installing an industrial exhaust hood in our kitchen – its sole purpose to eradicate all aromatic evidence of fried onions and blistered garlic; basic constituents of most Indian recipes.

Such an addition seems redundant considering rich cashew based Kormas and glistening ghee’d rotis have long been forsaken for healthier alternatives. Extinguishing these endangered culinary odors, almost serves to mask my cultural identity.

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feature image:  Miss Hybrid 3 by Shirin Aliabadi source: The Third line Gallery/ highlights the dual existence of young women and the ways in which they adapt their private lives to the public sphere. Iranian girls and women—dolled up and adhering to the mandatory Islamic dress code as minimally as possible…“passive rebellion” against state-imposed morality is palpable. Source: The Art Newspaper above images: Designer @rahemurrahman / The British-Bangladeshi designer when flicking through family photographs, saw the trajectory of struggle and change his loved ones had gone through. The first few were of his family when they immigrated from Bangladesh to the UK in the late 1980s and initially stayed in a hostel — eight people in one room. The next were of his family in their first English council flat in London, and so forth. “With the damask wallpaper, people now see it and think it’s connected to our Asian roots but actually it was us fitting in and being super English. The differences are in the small nuances: you couldn’t just have a floral border and paint the rest of the wall, you had to have the two wallpaper options with the gold trim so it was entirely covered, that’s what made it extra and South Asian.” Source: @southasiannation

Not long ago, a friend and I were at a gallery (The Muted Horn) that masquerades as a home in a defunct warehouse. Exhibitions when showcased, are curated with thought-provoking cuisine in direct relation to the work. Most recently a Sudanese Muslim artist from Chicago’s pieces were displayed. At its core it depicts a lifelong struggle with her mother’s requisite for piety and her penchant for autonomy.
This was further emphasized by traditional Sudanese fare laden with decadent peanut sauces, intentionally weighing down the observer to experience the heavy psychological burden of the artist.

It is a nod to a place known as, The Conflict kitchen in Philadelphia, which defines itself by rotating meals from regions in conflict with America. Here, food becomes an overture for art – dissolving prejudges with deliciousness and in the process creating a space for profound conversations and expositions.

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(L) Headgear by Shiraz Gallab source: The Muted Horn / is a collection of passages that float around the topics of childhood and indifference while set in a cross-cultural haze source: shirazn.es (R) The Spark by Sahand Hesamiyan source: Parasol unit / His works—large, reclining vessel-like sculptures, each channeling a veritable universe of elaborate, repetitive patterns that recall Islamic architecture—have been likened to everything from vaulted domes and futuristic pods to ornamental projectiles. They conjure references to Sufism, metaphysics, symbolism and spiritualism, and are sculptural marvels, sprung as much from engineering as from poetics. Source: ArtAsiaPacificMagazine