This archive has been made as a project for my Open College of the Arts Creative Arts degree. Asked to create an archive, factual, creative or a combination, with the loose brief of 'time and place' I chose to base my work on the domestic space of the kitchen.  This work originates from the personal viewpoint of my own kitchen here and now as a place in time, but extends more generally as everybody eats and a food preparation space is something relatable across humanity . 

Historically, anthropologically and through artistic representations I am interested in the domestic.  I enjoy art that depicts living spaces, ordinary people, the mundanity of normal everyday life. When visiting a museum I am drawn to exhibits about how people lived and what they ate.  When learning about 'important' events such as wars,  I want to know what the soldiers had for dinner, where they slept and what they did when they weren't fighting.  I want to know about the impact on those not at war, how their lives and diets changed.  The domestic, private sphere is often regarded as 'female' and as such has historically been considered less important and oftentimes missing or underrepresented in records. This underrepresentation may lead to my own, and many others, conflicted feelings around domesticity. If more value was given to the everyday maintenance work associated with the home and kitchen would it impact how it is carried out and by whom?

Since the 1970s female artists have consciously used private sphere experiences for inspiration as a feminist strategy.  The private sphere is associated with women and centred on the home, domesticity and intimate relationships.  Textiles and craft skills associated with the private sphere have long been undervalued and many female artists have worked to 'reclaim' the use of these as valuable means for artistic expression. Within this archive I have used textiles, I have made work around intimate relationships and I have, of course, used home and the domestic as my main inspiration.

Archives are often presented alphabetically and I gave myself the constraint of creating an A-Z of the kitchen.  Accompanying each of the archive's materials is a related text.  Sometimes researched and factual, sometimes trivial and sometimes my own thoughts on the topic. The texts were sometimes planned, sometimes what caught my attention when researching the topic. These texts extend the 'time and place' aspects of the archive away from the personal of the materials towards the universal idea of kitchens, domesticity and related topics. By structuring my archive as an alphabet, I was able to deliberately omit materials and texts for some letters, making a statement about archives not being complete records.

A secondary, but still important, aim of the archive is through the use of a range of creative ways to respond. The archive as a record of methods I can return to in the future.  Also, an opportunity to try new things and learn new skills, for example this is the first time I have ever made a website. 

To find out more about the research behind the archive and it's materials you can view my planning document here. The padlet holds links to resources, videos, contextual information, research and more.