2018
Together with 4 participants from Visio de Brink, centre for the blind in Vries, Drenthe, Katie has engaged on a journey of self discovery through the use of food as a preliminary discourse tool. Participants of Smaak Identiteit have the opportunity to work with texture, themes, intuition, colour (for the partially sighted or deaf clients), taste, otherness and more. This is a fluid and experience based project which offers the participants new perspectives, otherly experiences and a new way to consider food as an artistic tool.
Smaak Identiteit is an inclusive project, engaging with a range of wonderful intellectual abilities and embracing the hidden talents and thoughts of the participants.
'Choice' plays a significant role in the project, with the participants helping to develop the course of their experience with the artist together.
Through sensory and highly personalised workshops, Katie works attentively with the participants on a one-to-one basis, with each journey, and set of actions, differing greatly to the other.
Katie uses raw food where possible, focusing on intent, unusual ingredients, new preparation techniques, development of fine motor skills, all with a health perspective in mind.
Many participants have made cakes of their choice without sugar, gluten or dairy for the first time.
The group came together as a whole in January 2018 for a specially designed pizza-making workshop with Katie, Joost Brouwer (cook and specialist in the care of the otherly abled) and the wonderful Eetwinkel Buurman & Buurman at the pizzeria in Groningen.
Katie is currently collecting and reflecting on some of the experiences through documentation, with an audio-visual cookbook to come.
The cookbook holds the recipes created in conjunction with the participants, the stories shared, drawings, photography and other reflections by participants, in an accessible book format (letterpress, braille, CD).
Katie has been cooking in line with food allergies, healthy food choices and innovative recipe creation for more than 6 years, and with an extensive experience in catering has combined her interest in cuisine with her specialized social-participatory art practice.