Sidian Liu

Artist Sidian Liu is in Fort Collins, making kitchen visits from September 1 - September 6, 2024.

“My name is Sidian Liu and I am an artist. I moved to NYC from the opposite of the globe in 2021 summer. Dealing with my sense of displacement and longing for a sense of "at home," I have been asking strangers to let me use their kitchens in solitude. In return, I cook them a meal. I ask for the least amount of face-to-face contact: I would arrive, cook, take photos, clean up, and leave. The kitchen owners usually leave the household or stay in another room during the visit. After the visit, the resulting photos are sent to the kitchen owners, who are invited to make responses. These correspondences, along with the photos, have been printed large and wheat-pasted on the green construction boards on the New York City streets, a public-facing, liminal space. The street publication is both a presentation and an open call that invites future collaboration. Through trusting a stranger and allowing an act of nurture to happen, the participants and I are co-building an experimental kinship with mutual care. In a time of globalization, pandemic, and crisis, this project is trying to address these questions: how can we have intimacy that transcends distance and alienation? 

As the 2024 Denis Roussel Fellow, from September 1 to September 6, 2024, I will visit Fort Collins for a week-long residency, kindly supported by the Center for Fine Art Photography (thec4fap), a Fort Collins-based non-profit organization that is a preeminent supporter of photography and photographic artists. I am excited to bring The Conch Girl Project to another city! The results of this visit will be presented next Spring at Fort Collins in the form of a zine launch and an exhibition.”

The Conch Girl Project

In this socially engaged project that utilizes cooking to co-nurture the mutual care for strangers in New York City, Sidian Liu asks strangers to let her use their kitchens in solitude--in return, she cooks them a meal.

We are fortunate to have Sidian Liu come to Fort Collins to expand on the Conch Girl Project in our community! While her kitchen sessions in NYC are printed large and wheat-pasted on the green construction boards on the New York City streets, the photography from her Fort Collins sessions will be presented locally next spring.

Below are a few of Sidian’s recipes that document the stories behind her New York City kitchen visits.