Skin Contact, Pluck, and Wine press membrane series
As part of Edible States, Bankstown Arts Centre, New South Wales
25 July – 5 September, 2026
Group show included Keg De Souza, Andrew Rewald and Elizabeth Willing
Curated by Rachael Kiang
"Operating at the critical intersection of ecological precarity and systemic critique, Edible States offers an urgent investigation into our modern food systems. The exhibition constructs interactive, living and tactile environments that map the direct friction between natural ecosystems and hyper-processed synthetic realities. Through site-specific and material interventions, Andrew Rewald, Keg De Souza and Elizabeth Willing subvert the sensory mechanics of taste, thereby reframing the act of eating. It transforms food consumption into a potent exploration of systemic entanglement, material reality and ecological survival."
-Catalogue excerpt, Rachael Kiang
Skin Contact
Grape skins play an important role in the winemaking process, they are responsible for much of the wine’s flavour profile, as well as hosting valuable microbial and yeast cultures. The term skin contact is commonly used by wine connoisseurs, but it also sounds delightfully sensual or affectionate which complements the intimate nature of this work.
The act of peeling grapes is a memory from my childhood, but one which speaks to a kind of silliness and boredom. However, it also makes me think about how desperately we hope to be able to rid our foods of the pollutants added during production.
Wine press membrane
This deep purple surface is a product of the industrial food system, an offcut from the modern wine industry. The romance of crushing the grapes with bare feet is abolished, instead, industrial polyurethane membranes are inflated in metal drums to crush tonnes of grapes. The repeated contact with grapes transforms the skin-like surface, the colour and smell of the fruit is sublimated into this porous plastic material.
Pluck
Cryovacing, along with other preserving techniques, allows us to preserve volatile food items for extraordinary amounts of time, giving us security in our food choices. This sculpture started as packaged Frankfurt sausages, bunched and commercially cryovaced into a wormy mass. Through a mould-making process a porcelain cast is created. Engravings spread around the edges like mycelium. This curvy motif is the closest I can get to rendering the delicate, almost formless velvet villi of the gut. This villi represents the threshold between us and the in/edible food we welcome into our body.
