Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shuba Shekar. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Shuba, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
In September 2023 I started working on an idea that had been brewing in my mind for a long time. Having moved countries and cities, and living an immigrant life far away from home, I often wondered if the feeling of homesickness and nostalgia of a city, home, people was felt by everyone and wanted to talk about this through food and lived spaces. Childhood homes, food and people who made us these special dishes will always remain with us- Kitchen Table started as an exploration of that.
Since I’d moved to Detroit in 2021, I felt I needed to start the project here, and build connections with the community through these conversations. What started as a simple question, propelled into a deeper, community-driven space. The project asked people living in and around Metro Detroit to share about their childhood memories, and the food they grew up eating. The goal was to create a collection of recipes coming from different cuisines, cultural background and cities we came from around the world. Through this research I met so many wonderful people who were food enthusiasts, professionals from the culinary world, and the community of Detroit played a pivotal role in promoting the project. It was also a great way for me to meet new people in the city, which I truly enjoyed.
I feel extremely lucky and grateful that I was able to work on this project and create a self-published book that was an anthology of recipes and stories exploring various cultures and cuisines. With over 50 contributions, the book is definitely the most meaningful project I have worked on. I also collaborated with a local artist whose expertise was on hand-bound books, to create a special hand-bound version of the recipe book which had a beautiful thread-bind going through the spine of the book- this was truly special! I also really enjoyed throwing a potluck for the book launch where people from the book and otherwise could bring a dish of their choice, or the dish they submitted, to celebrate the book. The whole journey from concept to a physical book and a community book launch was incredibly special filled with lots of learnings that I can take forward. I am hoping I can continue to explore and expand the project beyond one city, one country in the future.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I grew up Mumbai (Bombay), India, and coming from a diverse, cosmopolitan city that had a constant bustling energy and wide range of food spanning multiple cuisines, moving to the US was a huge transition. My educational background is in architecture and I’ve worked in firms in India and the Bay Area in California. Personally, I was always intrigued by lived spaces that carried stories, memories and came from a space of timelessness- be in homes or public spaces that brought people together. This may have been a culmination of my architectural education and living in cities that had many layers of public spaces and culture.
Like for my Masters project in SF (I studied in California College of the Arts with a Masters in Advanced Architectural Design in History, Theory and Experiments), I recreated a certain cafe typology, popularly known as Irani cafes in India (mostly found in cities like Mumbai and Pune). These cafes were highly popular in the 20th century for inexpensive food and a space of public dining, which was unheard of before that time. During the turn of the century, many mill workers migrated to larger cities like Bombay, and Irani cafes were unique in creating spaces of the workers and their families to dine in. What’s most interesting is these cafes were primarily owned and run by Zoroastrians, who migrated to India during two major waves of migration from Persia and Iran.
I was fascinated by these stories that brought people and places together, to create layers of histories for cities, cultures and communities. For a long time, I would try to do personal projects in these realms outside of my architecture job. But last year I got laid off from my job, which pushed me to tap into my creative energy further and taking that leap of faith was exciting and liberating. I knew I had to create a space or niche, where I could collaborate, share and invite people to share their stories, talk about their lives and food and continue this form of research in my own way.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
Stories are powerful, especially the ones that reflect ones’ ancestral roots and journey through generations. Lived spaces and objects also inhabit these memories and age in their own way- be it physically or in the memories of the ones carrying the stories. Through my creative projects, I aim to create opportunities to learn more about people through their stories on culture, food, homes and cities we navigate through our lives. Often times, the simplest things and moments around us remain unseen- I think about the silent stories they carry and want to hear about them from people. I think these stories provide a window into peoples’ lives, teach something about their roots and cultures- I am interested in learning from everyone because we may not get to see everything around the world on our own.
I am also drawn to unused, leftover spaces or objects so I keep thinking of alternative ways to bring these aspects into limelight in my creative journey. For example, I have an instagram page that just documents street furniture- seats, benches etc., as designed objects left behind, or makeshifts seats around the world.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
I think we need a robust system for art patrons and facilitators, who can guide and support artists or creatives coming from various backgrounds. In my career path, there was a time when I truly wanted to work in art galleries or museums as a part of the curatorial team. But having lived in India (where exposure to museums or gallery spaces were very limited compared to the western world), I was always compared to someone who had these opportunities since their school days. With a few smaller roles and after multiple attempts, I had to give up on the dream because the options for an immigrant worker on a visa trying to find a museum job was too low. I had also been rejected from a research fellowship program, despite making it to the top 5, for either lack of experience or funding for visas. That’s when I realized that I will always fall short compared to most applicants because of the comparison in opportunities or lack there of, even if I would have been a great fit.
So I believe society needs to create an ecosystem that can provide guidance and funding for immigrants wanting to pursue creative opportunities by means of visa support, grants for visa holders etc., so that museums and galleries can also provide job opportunities for people on visas coming from different parts of the world- because I truly believe once the opportunity is provided, we will definitely bring something different to the table.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kitchentablethings.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kitchentablethings/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/seat.unreserved/?hl=en
Image Credits
Jena Brooker, Rishi Doshi