SUITCASE KITCHEN
2023
Chicago, IL
Benntonville, AK
Albuquerque, NM
Elgin, AZ
Twentynine Palms, CA
Exhibited in Mexico City with Lobster Club.
This project, built between Detroit, MI and Ox-Bow School of Art and Artist Residency, is a kitchen that packs up into the space of a found, mid-sized suitcase. It uses pans and cooking utensils forged at Haystack Open Studio Residency, alongside off-the-shelf, manufactured equiptment. When assembled, is it supported on one side by the edge of the suitcase, its container, and on the other side by whatever is at hand. In thinking about ways to distill and reimagine a sense of home while in transition, Johnson turned to the kitchen as an anchor for a sense of routine, community and nourishment. For Johnson, a sense of home has to do with the ability to host people, and feel ownership over a space. With this kitchen she can host people in their own backyards, or in public space. Here, she cooked for people across the United States, as she traveled from Michigan to California, and offered her own hospitalisty in response to or acknowledgement of theirs.
2023
Chicago, IL
Benntonville, AK
Albuquerque, NM
Elgin, AZ
Twentynine Palms, CA
Exhibited in Mexico City with Lobster Club.
This project, built between Detroit, MI and Ox-Bow School of Art and Artist Residency, is a kitchen that packs up into the space of a found, mid-sized suitcase. It uses pans and cooking utensils forged at Haystack Open Studio Residency, alongside off-the-shelf, manufactured equiptment. When assembled, is it supported on one side by the edge of the suitcase, its container, and on the other side by whatever is at hand. In thinking about ways to distill and reimagine a sense of home while in transition, Johnson turned to the kitchen as an anchor for a sense of routine, community and nourishment. For Johnson, a sense of home has to do with the ability to host people, and feel ownership over a space. With this kitchen she can host people in their own backyards, or in public space. Here, she cooked for people across the United States, as she traveled from Michigan to California, and offered her own hospitalisty in response to or acknowledgement of theirs.
