My work uses drawing and social practice to facilitate ongoing research into the correlation between local foodways and issues of social justice. To explore the question, “who prepares the food and who sits at the table”, I organize community meals whereby local residents, food providers and scholars share stories about regional recipes and generational food traditions related to the gathering table. The drawings that result from these events act as a visual archive of their stories, collectively highlighting the economies, social structures, and political leanings of each community. Additionally, a collection of stories and recipes are printed in a series of site-specific catalogs that imitate the activist roots of community cookbooks.

Through thoughtful engagement with residents, the documentation of personal narratives, and the subsequent sharing of this growing archive in various locations across the country, connections become fore fronted. While food is a shared experience across cultures, it is varied and complicated. Our eating habits are directly impacted by public policy, by immigrants that are the backbone of the American food system, and by a rapidly changing climate. The creative works recognize the intersections between our regional foodways as emblematic of the tightly woven social and systemic fabrics that bind us while the multi-disciplinary presentation offers viewers a clear pathway to engage in creative action.

BIO

Straddling drawing and social practice, Laura Tanner's works act as archives of regional foodways, shedding light on how recipes and traditions surrounding the gathering table reflect collective identity. Through collaborations with historical institutions and local communities, Tanner's work reveals challenges confronting communities across America and exposes the extraordinary disparity between perceived and experienced narratives as told by those who are enduring them. Tanner has exhibited nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at the Springfield Art Museum, the Weatherspoon Art Museum, and the Susquehanna Art Museum. Her research has been supported through numerous fellowships and residencies, including A Studio in the Woods at Tulane University, the Ucross Foundation, and the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences. In 2023, select drawings from Tanner's ongoing project, Dish, were selected for publication in the Fifth National Climate Assessment, a two-part congressionally mandated report by the U.S. Global Change Research Program with a mission to assess the science of climate change and variability and its impacts across the United States. Tanner currently lives in Boca Raton, FL. Her work can be viewed at the Ferrara Showman Gallery in New Orleans or in the collection of the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina.