24-10-22 | Making The Christmas Cake

I carried out a piece of research at my family home, documenting the annual tradition of making our Christmas cake. I took photographs, field recordings and written documentation of the process. This brought up some interesting outcomes, for example, the way in which the family recipe has been preserved and amended over the years, making way for alteration according to taste preference. Also the system of marking off ingredients as they are used, note the markings on the right hand of the recipe. I’m struck by the label on this 1970s mixing bowl, depicting presumably a mother and daughter baking together. Though I find this deeply problematic, it is in keeping with our tradition. The cake is made by my mother and I, my grandmother and mother before that. I plan to use the field recordings as part of a sound work which I am working on for installation in our degree show. It will comprise these recordings, with recordings of interviews I have already made with my family members, and hopefully recordings of the work I intend to produce using contact microphones in conjunction with objects from the archive.

1. My family’s recipe for Christmas cake

2. Documenting the making of the cake, 2022

3. Label from mixing bowl, circa 1970