Around the Table is a group exhibition that engages a theme of food not as a material or medium, but as a means of social gatherings and communal round-ups.
As part of the exhibition, philippa Pham hughes creates a PARTICIPATORY and socially engaged artwork called “We should talk: around the Table,” that invites honest and vulnerable conversations.
Exhibition curated by Dr. Vesela Sretenović
september 27 – december 8, 2024
De La Cruz Gallery
3535 Prospect St NW, Washington, DC 20007
One of the greatest and hardest acts of civic engagement is talking to people who don’t share our beliefs. But that’s exactly what we need to do to create a society in which everyone flourishes. Strengthening our social bonds happens when we begin to care about each other again and develop relationships with one another. That begins with a conversation around the table.
Each conversation begins with looking at one of the artworks in the exhibit and reflecting on race (Constructed Collages by Jo Smail), home (“Eat the News” by Helen Zughaib), and belonging (“BElonging” by Jennifer Wen Ma). Over dinner, we envision a future in which every human flourishes.
Poet Thu Anh Nguyen writes poetry that embodies the words and emotions of each conversation.
Chef Devin Murphy home-cooks each meal to nourish us.
What would a flourishing future look like?
Share your answers to this question to be included in a collective poem that includes your words!
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Dinner conversation on: HOME
Helen Zughaib, “Eat The News,” 2024, Handmade Glass Plate, Enamel Paint. Courtesy of the artist.
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Dinner conversation on: RACE
Jo Smail, “The Saver's Salad,” Constructed Collage, 2017, 7 1/2 x 9". Courtesy of the Artist and Goya Contemporary Art, Photo Credit Julien Davis.
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Dinner conversation on: BELONGING
Jennifer Wen Ma. “BElonging,” 2024, hand-blown glass, metal armature, directional dome speaker, audio recording. Courtesy of the artist.
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ABOUT Philippa Pham Hughes
Philippa Pham Hughes is a social sculptor, educator, speaker, and writer. She is a Visiting Artist for Art & Civic Engagement at the University of Michigan Museum of Art and Social Practice Resident at The Kennedy Center.
She applies relational thinking and an aesthetic of care and delight to her work in democracy building, civic engagement, and repairing the social fabric of our country one creative conversation at a time. Philippa draws from the arts and humanities to design spaces for honest, common-sense conversations across political, social, and cultural differences. She has produced hundreds of creative activations since 2007 for people who might not normally meet to engage with one another in unconventional and meaningful ways. She also curates multi-disciplinary art exhibits & experiences. These relational experiences build social capital, social cohesion, and social discourse. She is a curious and lateral thinker whose multi-disciplinary practice is informed by sociology, psychology, philosophy, political science, history, community organizing, design thinking, creative placemaking, art, and humanities.
Philippa has spoken internationally, including SXSW, The Sphere Education Initiative at the Cato Institute, TEDxAmericanUniversity, Placemaking Week Amsterdam, University of Michigan's Penny Stamps Speaker Series, Sparkfest, and Fort Worth Women's Policy Forum. Her work has been featured by artnet, CNN, PBS Newshour, CityLab, and The Washington Post. Philippa’s mission: to create a society in which all humans flourish.
Photo by Jared Soares for The New York Times
ABOUT Thu Anh Nguyen
Thu Anh Nguyen is an educator and writer whose work centers around equity and justice. Thu is currently on the National Staff of SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity).
The National SEED Project partners with communities, institutions, and schools to develop leaders who guide their peers in conversational communities to drive personal, institutional, and societal change toward social justice. SEED leaders design their SEED seminars with the flexibility to adapt them to their own local needs. They include personal reflection and testimony, listening to others' voices, and learning experientially and collectively, in the context of each participant’s intersecting identities. Through this methodology, SEED equips participants to connect our lives to one another and to society at large by acknowledging systems of power, oppression, and privilege. Thu is also facilitating one community-based SEED group with her co-facilitator Rebecca Farnum.
Thu has taught English, Creative Writing, and History for almost twenty years, most recently at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC. Thu Anh has led workshops and writes essays about cultural competence and literacy. She is also a published poet. Her writing has been published in Literacy Today, the Southern Humanities Review, the Cider Press Review, and the Crab Orchard Review. She has been honored with a Writing Residency from the InnerLoop Writers Series in Washington, DC. When she is not teaching or writing, Thu Anh is also a watercolor painter and calligrapher who paints large-scale floral powers for social justice movements such as Black Lives Matter and Say Her Name.
ABOUT devin murphy
Devin Murphy worked in the House of Representatives for over half a decade, including as a Legislative Director, before leaving in 2021. The pandemic solidified his love for cooking, and once the world began reopening, he promptly enrolled in culinary school. He then attended pastry school in Las Vegas, graduating in May 2024. Since returning to the DMV, he has taught cooking classes, while continuing to manage a small publishing company. He lives in Alexandria, VA, with his wife, Jackie, and his dog, Donut, and has not ruled out a return to politics…but only for the right candidate.