This creative display is not a segment from “The Great British Bake Off.” It’s a reimagined version of Bobby Baker’s 1976 artwork “An Edible Family in a Mobile Home.” Baker, known for her performance art, used her own Stepney home as the backdrop to construct this unconventional family, inviting locals to literally taste her art while she served tea.
Baker, inspired at the age of 25 by Claes Oldenburg and Patty Mucha’s “The Store,” which featured food item sculptures in a faux store, developed her own artistic language through edible creations. Her Meringue Ladies World Tour, where piped meringue figures danced and were then destroyed, embodied this ethos.
Rejecting the elitism she perceived in traditional art circles, Baker found solace and freedom in performance art, using it to mirror the lives and settings of her community. The Tate Britain’s reenactment of her work involved a team and custom cakes from Lili Vanilli, set against a backdrop of period-appropriate media materials, all adorned with hand-piped icing.
This edible family scene is part of the larger “Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the U.K. 1970–1990” exhibition at Tate Britain, which celebrates the diverse experiences and contributions of women in the arts.
The exhibit, free for public viewing, will eventually contribute its materials to Idle Women, an organization dedicated to women’s causes, aligning with Baker’s vision of art serving current societal needs.
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