At Table

The tables of my youth were compact, plastic, and single-serve. Meant to be folded and put away, then quickly assembled in time for dinner and prime TV. Our dining room table came with a leaf for to add holiday guests, but such occasions were rare in our smalltown home, where a single working mom and her only child alternated among TV dinners, stews and spaghetti. The ongoing series At Table arose from a desire to add people to these memories, to cultivate relationships across cultures and borders, to document the in-between moments when the ordinary comes alive through food and drink. In locations scattered throughout the world, I have used my lens to navigate from a perspective that is local in depth but global in breadth. Within the messy contingency of plates and cups I have forged 'tablescapes' to connect with friends and former strangers, creating a family album that defies traditional definition. Though At Table focuses on access and abundance, the imagery often backgrounds my work as a socially-engaged artist and food justice activist. Ultimately, this series aims to reveal aspects of the human condition that collide and converge in a shared, familiar place - the table.