How to Cook a Loved One transforms memory into matter, turning grief into something that can be held, smelled, and even imagined as tasted. The work asks what happens when mourning is not only emotional but physical—when loss is folded into the textures and rituals of daily life. Objects in the installation hover between the familiar and the unsettling. A “body,” made from a family recipe of dried beef soup, blurs nourishment with preservation, evoking the warmth of home while carrying the weight of mortality. The work invites viewers to sit with the contradictions of grief: comfort and decay, tenderness and finality. Rather than offering mourning as something fixed or ceremonial, the work treats it as an evolving ritual—one that can be absurd, tender, and strangely beautiful. It creates a space where memory is stirred, consumed, and released—where absence is transformed into presence through the language of objects.
This is a solo exhibition by Qianqian Liu.
Reception: Friday, October 24, 4–5:30 PM, Hopkins Hall Gallery
“How to Cook a Loved One
and Release them to Space
How to Hold a Funeral on a Budget
I Want to Describe My Refrigerator
to You So You Can Love Me Back
I Have Sent Words about You
to Outer Space
With the HUG I didn’t have a chance to
Give
I learned to braid my hair after you were gone.
Hold on to those who are gone.
Love persists in what remains.”
— Qianqian Liu
Fri, Nov 21 • All Day
Burgers
Pizza
Deli-Sandwiches
Mexican
Italian
Brewery
New American
Chinese