» Black Sesame, Orange Blossom, Sourdough Roll in Family Bowl

In the months leading up to her mother’s passing, Lien Truong’s cousin commented that the artist’s mother often spoke about her cravings for delicious tropical fruits from Vietnam such as passionfruit and guava. Galvanized by a deep love for food and flavor from her mother and family, the artist began a layered practice that begins with the making of cake.

Approaching baking in the same manner as the materials in her paintings, Lien’s aesthetic interrogations transformed into experiments testing the material hierarchies of flavor. Cultural flavor is intrinsic to the bounty of a land, and her recipes are mindful of foods native to the North American region that are fundamental in native cuisine; and those whose homes have been on this soil for centuries, whose flavor lineage is global. Lien creates an aggregate of flavors in the same process of making a painting, considering each cake as narrative; in homage to a loved one, and as an act of celebration of activist communities and those at the intersections, Lien makes cakes to be shared for sensory pleasure and joy with family and community.

In March of 2023, Lien’s mother’s declining health took a turn, stating she had no desire to eat unless there was someone to eat with. The artist set about making sourdough rolls to send to her who lived on the other side of the US in California. The dough culture was made from the yeast off the flesh of her own hands, infused with flavors her mother would find comforting: mung bean with scallions, and fragrant orange blossom and black sesame. The rolls arrived at her mother’s doorstep a day after she went into the ICU, and they never touched her lips. She transitioned on April 13 with all three of her children by her bedside. Black Sesame, Orange Blossom, Sourdough Roll in Family Bowl is a painting of the roll Lien made for her mother, placed in a family bowl she kept treasured, hidden far back in her cabinet, which her mother told her she brought from Vietnam but which the family never ate from on American soil. 

(Edited from text excerpts provided by the artist and Galerie Quynh)