This Tuesday SOMArts Cultural Center will be hosting their monthly event Feast of Words: A Literary Potluck. April’s theme is “On the Shoulders of Giants” featuring the work of Kirya Traber and food—inspired by her work—prepared by chef, Peter Jackson.
Traber, an openly queer artist from San Francisco, will be performing a piece that parallels her life to that of the queer icon, Gladys Bentley’s. “I started this piece in summer of 2010 for Michelle Tea’s Old School show,” explains Traber. “I had to write a piece in response to something I found at the GLBT Historical Society Archives. I picked up a file on Bentley’s life and was automatically drawn to her. I saw so much of myself in her journey.”
A contributor to the Harlem Renaissance and openly gay, Gladys Bentley was continually harassed for wearing men’s clothing until the 1950s when she married a man, began wearing dresses and supposedly started taking female hormones. “It’s all about gender,” Traber says. “When Bentley performed in L.A. they had to get permits just so she could wear pants on stage. But it was more than an act it’s how she lived her life—walking the streets of Harlem done up to the nines in a top hat and tuxedo. So her feminine transformation came across as being very oppressive, while mine has been very liberating. This piece aims to explore how our queerness—when used as a commodity—can make or break us (as artists) in the public eye.” Traber has been performing since the early 2000s. Her work has been read for diverse audiences ranging from presidents, incarcerated convicts, and kindergartners.
The chef Peter Jackson works with Canvas Underground, which he describes as “a spinoff of the ghetto gourmet, the pioneering pop up supper club in the Bay Area. We throw dinner parties in lots of different locations, such as commercial fish cutting facilities to private homes and art galleries.” He is also a vendor at the Foragesf Underground Market, which is how he originally learned about Feast of Words. This will be his second time cooking for the event. In honor of Gladys Bentley, Jackson will be making red beans and rice after one of her song titles, as well as bratwurst per request of Traber’s. “I’m part Swiss so I grew up eating them for special occasions. My family would rejoice at restaurants and hot dog stands that carried them,” she says. For dessert Jackson plans to make strawberry shortcake with mango vanilla sauce, “just for fun.”
The idea for Feast of Words “started in the Soviet kitchen of my childhood,” co-host, Irina Zadov recalls. “Where cooking and storytelling were inextricably intertwined. Here in the states I rarely have time to sit down to a quiet meal, much less cook. And storytelling has been reduced to 140 character exchanges. This event is an opportunity to bring back the communal kitchen table - to provide strangers an opportunity to eat, write, and share.” Zadov teamed up with the other host and director of SOMArts, Lex Leifheit, last July, and together they threw the first Feast of Words in October 2010. “Our main goal," says Zadov, "Is to connect the diverse residents of the Bay through food and culture."
While the event isn’t specifically queer it’s been a “platform for queer writers to reach new audiences,” says Leifheit. “Since the theme of each event is inspired by SOMArts exhibitions, it is rooted to SOMArts' role as a cultural hub and this manifests in subtle and surprising ways.”
Doors open Tuesday, April 5 at 6:30. Tickets are $10 in advance, $5 with a potluck dish, or $12 at the door. To learn more about the event visit their webpage at feastofwords@somarts.org
Follow Kirya Traber's new blog at: http://kiryayvonne.wordpress.com/
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