Finger Food

Here’s an article from dezeen describing a project in which the artist casts her body to make serving platters. What I love about the project is how detailed the castings of her body are, how thin each platter is, and how smooth the inside is in contrast to the outside. The outside does not reveal the its purpose and the inside does not reveal its form’s representation. As a ceramist, I adore the craft and elegance of the project. Also not the etched table for each body part to fit in, which would mean that the lip of each serving dish is coplanar! What gives the project another cohesive element is that the project was based on a Greek myth and was demonstrated by her male friends (note the red food choices).

Royal College of Art graduate Iola Kalliopi Sifakaki designed a dinner service cast from her own body and then invited a dozen of her male friends to feast from the tableware. The dinner service, and the dining furniture Sifikaki designed, are based on the Greek myth of Tantalus, in which Tantalus boils his son Pelops and offers him up as food to the gods to appease them.

IOLI SIFAKAKI:

The ritual of eating is a key element in my work. In this series of objects, inspired by the Greek myth of Tantalus, I created a tableware set by casting my own body. Ceramic objects are often related to rituals because they bare a remarkable resemblance to the purity and smoothness of the human flesh. By casting myself, I copy, dismantle and offer parts of me, in order to provoke new, unusual relationships between the maker and the user.