Pkeila - 2014

Pkeila was inspired by Chaddad’s experience growing up in a home where his mother frequently made Pkeila (also known as matfuna).

The process of washing and drying spinach leaves on oversized white sheets seemed laborious to Chaddad, and he imagined a machine to help her dry the leaves, isolating the moment where there is an abundance of green leaves drying across a vast swath of fabric, a process that normally lasts days. Chaddad imagined the spinach as dollar bills in a cash grab booth sometimes seen in casinos, cruises, or game shows, where guests frantically try to catch cash blowing through the air while they stand in a glass box. This brings about questions of the value of the drying process that is being lost in North Africa due to the transition towards a more modern, time-sensitive pace.

We are in a position to question industrialization, our aspiration towards optimization, and the consequent shift in the nature of food as it becomes more and more processed, resulting in the loss of stories, traditions and ingredients that are a large part of our cultural repertoire, family history, and historical way of life.

One square meter black wooden box, one square meter 1 glass box, drying swamp machine, spinach

2014 Solo show, Maximilian Forum, Munich