An outcome of the Food Matters Grant 2024 by Serendipity Arts Foundation.
This project documents the tpu-wasain, an indigenous rice-cake within the Jaintia community in Meghalaya. Through photography and moving-image, the tpu-wasain’s connection to sisterhood, womanhood, and the land is highlighted within the matrilineal tribal Jaintia community.
The project begins by first considering a personal story of two tpu-wasain making sisters (the artist’s grandmother Jialsibon Dkhar and her sister Boni Dkhar). This personal then evolves into a generative tale of woman-led tribal togetherness. From the home to the paddy to the marketplace, we see women sharing a sense of empowered responsibility.
This also documents the journey of the ingredients, from the terrace rice fields of Jaintia hills, the local underground water system, to a pot where it is cooked, and eventually journeys to the marketplace. This also highlights the clay pots, an indigenous design that incorporates local Jaintia black clay.
ARTISTS:
Fileona Endoxa Dkhar
