Food is a vessel for transferring affection

Two prints I picked up at RISD Craft last month that I can't stop staring at.

On a trip in early October, between checking out of an Airbnb and awaiting my check-in time at a hotel, I decided to wander around Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

I happened to be there on the day of RISD Craft, a large art show and market that features the work of current students and alumni. I walked shoulder-to-shoulder with hundreds of people as we made our way through the tents filled with paintings, pottery, jewelry, prints, textiles, furniture, and every kind of art imaginable.

There were two artists that stood out to me immediately: Marlowe and Rosie Dinsmore. The prints I purchased from them are pictured below. I love them for so many reasons, but what connects them for me is the way that they show the power of food as something to draw comfort from.

On the left: “the baker’s room” by Marlowe (@oddrabbits); you can support her work on Patreon

If there’s an imaginary world I belong in, I think I’ve found it. I want to live in this room, surrounded by cakes in glass domes, kneading dough, wrapped in flowery wallpaper. To me, this depicts the often elusive but sometimes attainable peace I described in this essay.

On the right: “collection of embodied acts of affection and compassion” by Rosie Dinsmore (@rosiedinsmore)

The title/description says it all. It’s no surprise that food is a vessel for transferring affection and compassion, but this print gave me a new way of seeing it all more clearly.