January 13 - February 23, 2023
“Assembly is pleased to present I made this for you, an exhibition of new work by Los Angeles-based artist David Alekhuogie that explores the emotional dimensions of soul food in American society. With an autobiographical lens, the artist traces a personal history of food making and recipe sharing in his own family in order to reveal the storytelling and caregiving at the center of these practices.
I made this for you originates from Alekhuogie’s desire to understand the human impulse behind soul food, rather than its precise historical origins:
“African American traditions are an integral part of American culinary history. Issues around race, histories of the enslaved, and colonial struggles provoke questions around who the legacy of ‘soul food’ belongs to. My question driving this work asks where soul food comes from emotionally. What is it, if not a desire to nurture, to comfort the ones you love? It’s a patchwork of the familiar. The question of authorship then becomes familial, as it’s passed down from caregiver to caregiver.”
The exhibition will feature a mixture of photographic prints alongside large-scale collaged fabric compositions on canvas. Alekhuogie’s images infuse common food items and meals with the personalities, histories, and hands that animate them by depicting handwritten recipes, worn-out cookbooks, and even portraits of his family members.
I made this for you connects the act of cooking with art-making to underscore the inherently iterative and collective nature of both practices, and ultimately exploring “what it means to express care through craft.”
Artist talk: February 8, 2023 | 6:30–7:30 pm
4411 Montrose Boulevard, Suite F
Houston, 77006 Texas
(713) 485-5510
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