performance, fruit, memory
Smithsonian Summer Solstice  Saturday || June 22, 2024



We Should Talk:
CUT FRUIT/과일깍자!
National Museum of Asian Art
Washington, D.C.

CUT FRUIT/과일까가! came to the National Museum of Asian Art in 100-degree weather with over 300lbs of Korean melons and Asian pears for their Smithsonian Solstice Saturday celebration. I was joined by artists Xena Ni and Thu Anh Nguyen as I cut fruit for hundreds of visitors and everyone came with the most incredible memories of love and care and visible hope.

For many Asian/Asian American family, fruit is shared as an act of love in abundance, often present at a child’s first birthday celebration in Korea, called a doljanchi; given in oversized boxes as housewarming gifts; and placed at altars for even our ancestors to enjoy. 

Instead of price per pound signs, CUT FRUIT/과일깍자!  invites us to carry the questions asked between the peels and slices:

what is the first taste you can remember?
what is something you always wished someone had asked and knew about you?
what fruit carries your favorite memories?
who is allowed to gather?
who is allowed rest?

You can learn more about this project at curiosityconnects.us/weshouldtalk

This project is the third installment of the We Should Talk series, created by Philippa Pham Hughes, Adele Yiseol Kenworthy, and Xena Ni. We Should Talk received Federal support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, and the American Women’s History Initiative Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum.

Photos of the performance taken on film by Lynn Le

©2024
Adele Yiseol Kenworthy