We love a good exhibition here in Manchester, and whether it’s classic paintings or something off the wall, literally, we’re ready to soak it all in. A less conventional exhibition that’s currently gracing our wonderful city is Bobby Baker‘s radical sculptural installation ‘An Edible Family in a Mobile Home‘ at The Whitworth – in which family members are made from cake…
Originally created in her prefabricated East London house in 1976, the remake of this installation accompanies ‘Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990’, opening simultaneously. This major artwork contains five life-size sculptures of family members made from cake, biscuits and meringues, which will be steadily eaten by the public.
Alongside the refurbished dressmaker’s dummy mother, the figures of a daughter, son, husband, and baby will be made out of garibaldi biscuits, meringue, and various flavours of cake (including a vegan option). The house is papered floor-to-ceiling in newspaper pages and magazine clippings dated to the mid-Seventies adorned with icing decorations. In the bathroom, music from the era emanates from a vintage radio and in the sitting room, the father watches 1970s comedy on TV.
The cake will be baked by Manchester’s women-owned and women-run Long Boi’s Bakehouse and assembled by Bobby Baker and her team. Visitors to the Whitworth will be invited into the house to sample these edible sculptures and talk to the ‘hosts’ and ‘host mother’ – students selected from The University of Manchester and trained by Baker herself.
Bobby Baker said: “Originally I wasn’t overtly considering the work as ‘feminist’, however over the years – and having had children and now grandchildren, I have come to realise that unpaid domestic labour is an incredibly undervalued part of life. It is fundamental to how the human world operates – how we look after each other and care for our children and stay healthy.
“However, domesticity and the work it requires still have words like ‘menial’ attached to it. In 1976 when people came to see Edible Family in what was my actual mobile home, they could contemplate who plays what domestic roles and why – and restaging this now, I feel that this work is still very much relevant today.”
The accompanying exhibition ‘Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990’ features over 100 female artists and celebrates their often-unsung contribution to British culture. It also includes photographs of Baker’s original sculptural installation from 1976, so visitors can compare the current installation to it.
‘An Edible Family in a Mobile Home’ exhibition is at The Whitworth from 7 March – 20 April. The exhibition is free to attend, with bookable tours and events available here.
📍 The Whitworth, Oxford Rd, Manchester M15 6ER.