emily johnson collaborations
WITH EMILY JOHNSON - THEN A CUNNING VOICE AND A NIGHT WE SPENT GAZING AT STARS
2020 NEWS - Jen and Emily along with Karen Recollect were selected by the ODD Gallery and the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture in Dawson City for ‘THE NATURAL and the MANUFACTURED’ artist residency to create a new work. POSTPONED due to Covid-19.
Emily Johnson's Then A Cunning Voice and A Night We Spent Gazing at Stars is a continuation of our ongoing collaboration.
ABOUT THE PROJECT Randall's Island, New York, August 2017 - Chicago, September 2019 - Los Angeles, (2020 - cancelled)
PHOTOS (Paula Court) Then a Cunning Voice and A Night Spent Gazing at Starts
MEDIA
All refuge DIY knowledge share ruth crow project future proof survival guide small projects and collaborationsemily johnson collaborations SHORE in NARRM: Feast
WITH EMILY JOHNSON - SHORE in NARRM: Feast
Jen Rae from Fair Share Fare partnered with Emily Johnson on her incredible project SHORE in NARRM for FEAST. SHORE is a multi-day performance installation of four equal parts: ‘Community’, ‘Action’, ‘Story’ and ‘Feast’. It is a celebration of the places where we meet and merge – land and water, performer and audience, art and community, past, present and future. Over the course of a week in May 2017, SHORE in NARRM included volunteer actions in partnership with local Indigenous and community organisations, a curated reading by Melbourne-based authors, theatrical performances that begin outdoors and move into the theatre, and then FEAST - a giant, festive potluck feast. Presented by Arts House as part of Yirramboi.
The focus of FEAST was to put local indigenous foods at the centre, surrounded by savoury and sweet dishes made by the community. This was explored by hosting an Indigenous take on the 'Australian Sausage Sizzle' along with a community potluck. The sausage sizzle is a popular community gathering and fundraising activity held at schools, voting stations and social centres. However, the food served is often low-grade and of poor nutritional value - what does this say about our relationship to food and community? Australian Indigenous foods, on the other hand, are highly nutritious and vitamin rich, yet little is known about these foods and for the most part are largely ignored in Australian food culture. All of the menu dishes and/or ingredients for FEAST were informed by Indigenous thinking - seasonal harvests, foraging, gifting, trading and of course, indigenous to this land. On the BBQ, wallaby and possum (possages) sausages were served on saltbush flatbreads, made with a single origin flour, topped with a bush tomato chutney. Other menu items included:
Pemmican (a Canadian First Nations 'energy' food) - here consisting of dried wild venison, macadamia nuts, harvested figs and kale
River mint tea
Mulled apple + riberry juice
Wattleseed damper + salted lemon myrtle butter
Origin crisp breads (macadamia, fig + rosemary) and (sandalwood nut, muntries + river mint)
Fig + wild fennel paste
Bush tomato chutney
Warrigal greens pesto
Roasted seasonal vegetables with desert oak, lemon myrtle, pepperleaf and saltbush
Roasted organic potatoes with pepperberry and murray river salt
Macadamia nut oil with bush tukka dukkha
Baked apple, blackberry and muntries topped with a sandalwood nut and wattleseed crumble
Akutaq (Yup'ik dessert) - this one consisting of rain forest cherries/lilly pilly and prickly pear fruit reduction