Doesn’t every family have their own myths about food? Each family has different dietary habits and taboos, which are quietly followed and spread like a genealogy. These “secret recipes” become family traditions, and relationships between parents and children can form a subtle node of interaction within discourses on food. What happens when dialogue on these topics spreads through pictures (for instance emoticons)? In today’s image-based, flattened global media landscape, how is one to determine the authenticity of online information about food? Can we locate reality in online images of food? And may family relationships be delicately portrayed through the way food images are shared and spread?

The artist Doreen Chan transcends the boundaries of photography through her artistic practice. In the process of using pictures to create new meaning and atmospheres, she uses original imagery as inspiration to create snapshots, collages, staged photography, performative video, and other mixed media work. Food and its vivid textures dominate her “image diary,” and are used in her investigation of senses, material, and details obscured in everyday life. In this workshop she will connect personal stories, historical fragments, and experiences, bringing these seemingly disparate elements together to consciously reflect on the “grammar” of consumer culture.

For “Mom and Dad are Always Right (on Diet)” Doreen Chan will remotely lead twelve participants divided into six groups, each

composed of two members of the same family, but from different generations. The participants will interact through discussions and games, sharing their families’ food “legends” and “beliefs.” In the process of sharing these stories and traditions, participants will also collect photos from the Internet, and by the end of the session, receive a digital version of a personal “food manifesto image,” prepared by a designer on-site.

Special thanks to Luo Peijia and Xie Jin for manifesto images design and production.