INÊS QUEIRÓS

“Massa Mãe” is a collaboration project between interdisciplinary artist Asli Hatipoglu and textile artist Inês Queirós. The two artists started their journey in October 2021 in Favaios Portugal, Inês grandfather’s village, where bread is an essential source of income and a cultural artisanal trait.  In a post-pandemic scenario of the scarcity of wheat, the two decided to dive into the socio-political issues around bread baking and work side by side with one of the local bakers, Rosario. The day would start at 4 am preparing the dough needed to knead and bake 600 loaves of bread a day while stories were told and local wisdom was shared.

At PuntWG, Inês and Asli presented the beginning of their research on the relationships between bread making, cloth and its social economic impacts. Inês showcased textile studies that imprint the surroundings of that rural area and its bread-making rituals while reflecting upon cloth as a tool of a vessel, a shield and a carrier. Asli presented a video piece of her thoughts while being part of the daily routine of this bakery.  She focuses her concerns on the relationship between the body/food and its role during mental processes where physical repetition shifts the body during industrialization processes in such practices. Through their eyes, wheat becomes a broader subject than just bread, a vehicle to reflect on the future of our ecology, health and socio-economic stability. 

For the opening, Inês and Asli shared Rosario’s 42 years old sourdough starter in a baked loaf of bread and asked visitors to bring jars to take part of this dough home.