SETTING THE TABLE: Opening Exhibition

SETTING THE TABLE: A Sonic Installation of Food, Belonging & Migration is an interactive exhibition featuring nine audio stories from immigrant, refugee, and diasporic community members living in the East Bay, on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands of the Chechenyo-speaking Ohlone and Bay Miwok peoples.

This table of stories and food memories draws connections to Mexico, Panama, Nigeria, Laos, the Philippines, Thailand, Jamaica, Pakistan, Iran, Guatemala, and the African American diaspora. This project is grounded in the belief that food brings us together, that gathering can be joyful, and that there is room for everyone.

Please stop by during this happy hour-style gathering to experience the exhibit and chat with project collaborators! Snacks and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided.

SETTING THE TABLE is a collaboration between Voice of Witness, lead artist Elena Botkin-Levy of GEMS Oral Histories, and collaborating artist Rami KD, with funding provided by the Creative Work Fund.

We're thrilled to partner with for this event and to share stories from chefs in their community in the Setting the Table exhibit. Oakland Bloom is a nonprofit that supports working-class immigrant and diaspora chef-entrepreneurs to develop their food businesses. Through its project Open Test Kitchen, Oakland Bloom hosts a community kitchen hub, which offers accessible resources for chefs to prepare and share their foods, collaborate with one another, and build support. Oakland Bloom also hosts events that foster community connection, healing, resilience, joy, and learning - both at Open Test Kitchen and through its neighborhood-based initiatives in Oakland Chinatown. Follow Oakland Bloom at @otk_eats and @oaklandbloom to support their work!

Following our launch celebration, Oakland Bloom will be hosting Setting the Table for public viewing at Open Test Kitchen through June 4 (Wed-Fri, 9am-2pm).

For questions, please contact VOW Community Partnership Manager Ela Banerjee at [email protected].

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Host or Publisher Voice of Witness