Event Recaps

Storytelling & Food – Our First Event!

May 29, 2014

We were thrilled to kick off our first big event this Tuesday in collaboration with the organization that brings you TEDxManhattan each year, Change Food. During Storytelling & Food, five talented artists shared their work and discussed the ways storytelling can shape the way people look at food. 


Tattfoo Tan’s (@tattfoo) art practice seeks to find an immediate, direct and effective way of exploring issues related to the individual in society, through which we collapse the categories of ‘art’ and ‘life’ into one. Tattfoo has presented, collaborated and shown his works in various venues and institutions including: Staten Island Arts, Queens Museum of Art, Parsons the New School for Design, Fashion Institute of Technology, Pratt Institute, and dozens more. You may have seen some Tattfoo’s work around NY, including the Nature Matching System. The giant grid of color, inspired by fresh fruits and vegetables, was one of largest public art projects seen at the Port Authority and in Dumbo. NY Art Beat says, Tattfoo’s work “force(s) us to question what we eat, how we use our land, why we are wasteful with food and with our materials, and they suggest new ways to consider these questions.” 

He is currently showing S.O.S. at the St. George Ferry Terminal in Staten Island


Ava Chin (@avachin) is the author of Eating Wildly: Foraging for Life, Love, and the Perfect Meal, which Kirkus called “A delectable feast of the heart.” The former Urban Forager columnist for the New York Times, she has written for the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, Saveur, the Village Voice, and Martha Stewart Online. Huffington Post named Ava as one of 9 contemporary authors you should be reading. Vogue named her book one Spring’s best food books. A professor of creative nonfiction at CUNY, she lives and forages in New York City.


Sean Kaminsky (@sesameproject) is an award winning documentary filmmaker and writer whose work focuses on environmental and social issues. His past projects have been broadcast on PBS, Sundance Channel, and HBO. “Open Sesame – The Story of Seeds” is his first feature length documentary as director.

Lee Brooks is a composer for film, television, and advertising, specializing in modern orchestral music. His work is noted for using strong emotive melodies and often chilling use of neo-romantic harmonies and exciting builds. He is also a singer-songwriter, matching those melodies with ethereal vocals and orchestral influences.


Henry Hargreaves (@henry_photo) is a New York City based photographer and artist whose work has regularly been covered by the media and represented at the Venice Biennale and at Art Basel. Henry’s work includes several collections of food photography, including some of our favorites, such as “Food maps” and “Burning Calories,” Henry’s take on the fast food industry. 


We were also thrilled to have local, delicious treats for our guests from the following sponsors, Quinciple, Sweet Loren’s, Super Eats Kale Chips, Casare Casella, and Harmless Harvest. 

We hope to do many more of these events, so if you have ideas on presenters, collaborations, or other unique programming, please don’t hesitate to shoot us an email at foodstand@purpose.com or drop us a line on Facebook. We would love to hear from you. 

Stay tuned for pictures and video from the event! 

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