2021
Allium Cepa
Allium Cepa is a printed archive about the common onion and a brief overview of its history, political and economical influence, through its role as inspiration in the art and design field, current presence and questioning its existence in the future of sustainability.
Research Assistant: Erina Zenin
Content Editor: Celina Ferrari, Ann-Marie Finn
Paper from Papirlageret Nørrevold & Vesterbro Kontorforsyning
Fabric from Stof & Stil
Printed with Xerox WorkCentre 7845
Made as part of the MA program at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
The archive was inspired from the poetry book Odas Elementales (‘Odes to Common Things’,1954) by Pablo Neruda. Through his genuineness in writing and a romantic way of observing everyday objects like an onion, a chair, an artichoke or a book, it motivated me to explore further the story behind each ordinary thing aside its usage. Onion was chosen as the first subject.
Onion has such a complex history throughout different time periods that there are more layers to it than what it has become known to us today. It was traced back to Egypt in 3500 B.C, a Sumerian text dated to about 2500 B.C, referenced in some of the oldest Vedic writing from India at least 5000 years ago, and was also found in the Bible’s Book of Exodus wherein the Hebrews, during their long wanderings in the desert, list onions and garlic as two of the foods they missed most from their old home. Not only an essential vegetable, onion's price is considered as the way inflation can be understood by ordinary people and a symbol to the working class in India and perhaps many other countries.
Book Wrapper
Dyed with onion skin scraps.
Wash / Boil / Strain / Combine / Dry / Iron
Thank shallot :-)
