Cooking Potato Stories, Ana Núñez Rodríguez

Published on occasion of PhotoIreland Festival 2021.

What can a potato tell us about ourselves? What does it say about the construction of national identity? What role can new narratives about the potato play in creating expanded social imaginaries? How can trans-local stories and food cultures be connected as an inroad to address forgotten colonial legacies and the wider context of political, social, and emotional relationships?

The history of the potato is marked by many obstacles to its adaptation and acceptance as a food crop: a long process of transformation, throughout which, many conflicts, beliefs and traditions stood in its way. Attending this long journey and process of adaptation reveals some ways that plants have served us in manifestations of our power over nature and other people. Here, this will serve to open a conversation about identity, politics, and some of the difficulties that must be overcome when adapting to new contexts and the forms of power that are within. The potato packs a universe of symbolic information on identity, domination and social differentiation that the artist put to use here to reflect on the effects of colonisation on our subjectivities, knowledge production and critical thinking.

Cooking Potato Stories a multi-layered trans-local story that follows the routes and roots of the potato through the context of Galicia, Colombia, and The Netherlands. For the 2021 edition of PhotoIreland Festival, artist Ana Núñez Rodríguez expanded on the current collection of stories to include those from Ireland. She has worked with a number of participants in an exchange of stories, as well as gathering archival images, articles, and written stories from Irish history. 

With thank you to the National Folklore Collection. 

Published by PhotoIreland
Newsprint, unbound
28 pages 
350 x 500 mm