“Culinary performance for Ways of Showing Up” (July 10, 2024). The Performing Garage, NYC. Credit: Hari Adivarekar

This week we welcome Daniel Pravit Fethke, an interdisciplinary artist working in film, performance, social activism, and installation. Teaching is a central part of his practice, and he regularly facilitates workshops, cooking classes, and creative gatherings that focus on food and recipes as ways to explore identity, narrative, and culture. 

“Food as Care” (2024) Cookbook. Edition of 100. Courtesy of the artist.

He recently published an autobiographical Thai-American cookbook, Food as Care, which is available for pre-order here.

Daniel’s work was recently part of Ways of Showing Up, a two-day experimental art event at the Performing Garage in Soho organized by Epicenter and the Department of Transformation. The event was centered around participation, immersive performance, and artist-led workshops about the artistic process as a form of care for oneself and others.  Fethke led a site-specific culinary performance and collective meal, focusing on food as a catalyst for shared dialogue in an arts context, with group discussions as a central feature of the gathering.

“On the Line” (2021). Documentary film, Duration: 09:51. Produced in collaboration with director and anthropologist Naomi Schiller and members of the Sixth Street Community Center. Courtesy of the artist.

He co-founded the mutual aid food pop-up Angry Papaya, and has hosted workshops at Dia Beacon, Socrates Sculpture Park, and the Performing Garage. Daniel has participated in several artist residencies, including at the Wassaic Project (2024), the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild (2024), and as a culinary resident at the Ox-Bow School of Art (2024-25). He has exhibited work internationally in Bangkok, Berlin, Barcelona, and domestically at the Yale School of Art, Recess Art Space, and the Knockdown Center. He earned an MFA in Fine Arts from Pratt Institute in 2023. 

“Ox-Bow Pad Thai” (2022) Duration: 2 Hours, Site-specific Workshop/Salon. Materials: Pad Thai ingredients, Wok, Propane, Tables, Chairs, To-Go Containers. Courtesy of the artist.

Artist’s statement:

“I am an interdisciplinary conceptual artist who interrogates the systems we find ourselves embedded in as a way to open up space for the social, the restful, and the hopeful. I draw inspiration from the food we eat, the recipes we pass down, and the places that remind us of home. I often place myself in my work as a facilitator of dialogue, as a provocateur asking critical questions, as a host creating space for people to come together. I use food—in particular the act of cooking, gathering, and sharing meals—as an entry point into new discursive and public spheres.”

See more of Fethke’s work on his website and Instagram.

See more of our artist profiles here.

Nitin is a visual designer, gallery artist, and community arts activist. Past desk-oriented posts include: PBS, Digitas, K12, Inc., Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and Sesame Workshop International....

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