Come eat with me: Sri Vamsi Matta

About the performance
Come Eat With Me is a 110-minute performance piece by Sri Vamsi Matta which explores the relationship between caste and food and culminates in sharing a meal together. Focusing on Dalit relationships to food, the piece begins with personal stories and oral histories around food in Vamsi’s household and community and is peppered with existing literature and academic writing around the multilayered, multi-flavored nuances between caste and food. The piece unpacks questions of oppression and solidarity, grief and joy, and the everyday victories of the human spirit in the face of structural injustices. The artist will cook a meal in advance and he will serve the meal to audience members. The meal consists of a chicken dish, a lentil dish, and rice.

About the Artist
 Vamsi (Sri Vamsi Matta) is an award winning Bangalore-based theatre and visual artist. Vamsi is the inaugural academic year-long Interdisciplinary Artist-in-Residence for 2023–24 at the Division of the Arts. Awards. His practice is influenced by his Dalit identity, experience and location. Dalit is the political identity of communities formerly known as “untouchable” and considered the lowest within the Hindu Caste System, and thus oppressed by its discriminatory scriptures, social structures and norms. The identity, and histories of his community and family, inform the questions, topics and mediums that Vamsi engages with through his work. Vamsi is currently the Interdisciplinary Artist in Residence at UW-Madison.

Please be advised that space is limited. Sign up does not guarantee a ticket. We will confirm attendance via email by April 13th, 2024. 

If you have any questions about this event, please send an email to Manar Fleifel-Keniar, Program Coordinator, Center for South Asia at manarf [at] stanford.edu (manarf[at]stanford[dot]edu).