Presenter: Mishkah Abrahams

In this presentation Mishkah Abrahams will reflect on how the spoon acts as “vibrant matter” for thinking through the entanglement of food and its attendant rituals as vectors of identity and memory. Through an art-based inquiry, she explores this in relation to her situated knowledge as a mixed-race woman in South Africa. This project aims to answer two questions. How could collaborative making act as liberatory memory work in assembling a community based archive? In addition, how do those who participate experience this practice as meaningful and effective?

Mishkah’s presentation showcased the process of undertaking research through creative practice and its theoretical underpinning within a critical feminist framework. She uses the grounding metaphor of eating at a table as an anchor for her proposed study. Along with the table, which is often used in philosophical musing, serves to ground her work in a specific theory, namely, new materialism and the spoon as an interactive object. Her hands as her practice/method and lastly, trouble making at the table as a joyful vision for the project.