BlackFlash’s Fill the Fridge card collection launches this April!
Fill the Fridge is a curated collection of greeting cards featuring artworks by prairie artists. The cards include photography, sculpture, poetry, and digital illustrations which showcase the intimacy of sharing a meal and the ways in which food connects communities. All proceeds from Fill the Fridge will be donated to the Riversdale Community Fridge.
Located right outside of the BlackFlash office (within the PAVED Arts and AKA building) at 424 20th Street W, the Riversdale Community Fridge is a mutual aid effort addressing food insecurity in Saskatoon. The fridge is supplied with groceries and prepared meals donated by the community, for the community. Since launching in January 2021, they have built relationships within the community—inviting members of the community to get involved, visit the fridge directly, volunteer, or advocate alongside them for long-term solutions to poverty, food insecurity, and food waste in Saskatoon.
Image description: A photo of the Riversdale Community Fridge- a black metal structure with two large doors and a slanted roof. Text on the right reads, “Riversdale Community Fridge/ Located in front of Paved Arts & AKA Artist Run/ 424 20th St W/ Open 24 hours, seven days a week”.
Five prairie artists—Aralia Maxwell, Deanna Pauls, Marc Rousseau, Xiao Han, and Yonina Rollack—shared BlackFlash’s excitement for supporting the community fridge and generously donated images that tell unique stories of food and community in the prairies. Their artworks give an intimate look into savoured moments of connection through food.
Aralia Maxwell is an artist from Saskatchewan, Treaty 6 territory. She holds a BA from the University of Saskatchewan (2015) and an MFA from NSCAD University (2019). Her work has been shown across Canada at venues which include: Neutral Ground Artist-run (Regina, SK), Art Mur (Montreal, QC), and Anna Leonowens Gallery (Halifax, NS). Working primarily with acrylic paint, in her artistic practice, Maxwell frequently trades paintbrushes for kitchen tools and canvases for sculpted objects. Blending and abstracting vocabularies of fine art and food, the results explore materiality, aesthetic taste, and question what it means to engage in a visual diet.
“Confetti Square Trio from the series Bars and Squares is inspired by my childhood in rural Saskatchewan and the tradition of serving “dainties” at social events. Whether it be a wedding, funeral, farm auction, or daily 4 o’clock tea, these square-shaped desserts baked by grandmothers were an excuse for gathering and conversation, as well as a connection between people, geographies, and time. It is my hope that sharing a visual rendition of these delicacies through the Fill the Fridge fundraiser might capture this spirit of maternal care and contribute to the nourishment of community in my home province.” – Aralia Maxwell
Based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Yonina Rollack pays tribute to the earth and its inhabitants, creating playful images that are both drawn from reality and an extension of her own inner world. Shaped by a background in printmaking and countless hours spent looking through library books, Yonina’s work is illustrative, personalizing observations of the world through her own aesthetic.
“Right after I agreed to be a part of this fundraiser, I read this sentence in Spring Cannot Be Cancelled by David Hockney. I thought it reflected the essence of this project and the simple joy of sharing food with people you love. ‘The only real things in life are food and love, in that order’”. – Yonina Rollack
Xiao Han is an artist and curator based in Wuhan and Saskatoon. Using photography, Han’s research-creation projects investigate immigrants’ identity, food and culture interpretation, and community-based art practice. As an independent curator, Han has curated numerous exhibitions collectively with artists and art institutions in Canada and China.
Xiao Han’s public art Yee Clun’s Lost Story was permanently installed, in the summer of 2017, in Regina Arts Park. This project reflects the lost story of immigrant and restaurant owner Yee Clun in Regina in 1924 when he challenged the racist “Saskatchewan’s White Women’s Labour Law”. Visit http://loststories.ca/regina/ for more information and a short documentary film about this project.
Deanna Pauls is a Canadian writer and poet who lives in Saskatoon, S.K. with her husband Riley, and son, Maximus. She has a bachelors in Secondary Education and enjoys gardening in summer, baking sourdough bread in the winter, and writing year-round in the sun of their south-facing window.
“I wrote this poem with the hope of drawing the reader’s gaze to our beautiful prairies, to the faces and hearts of those who call this land home, and to the bounty and abundance that can be found in both.” – Deanna Pauls
Marc Rousseau is the creator of weird comics with a specific knack for taking a satirical look at the city of Saskatoon, as seen in the book A Miserable Guide to Saskatoon. This image depicting Saskatoon’s ultimate indicator of the beginning of summer – a long lineup at the Dairy Queen on 8th Street – comes from the month of July in Saska2022n!! A Stupid Saskatoon Calendar for Another Lousy Year.
Get your own Fill the Fridge card collection here.
For more information about what to donate, how to donate, or how to access the Riversdale Community Fridge, visit their website, Facebook, or Instagram.
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