Through the Kitchen Door

This room-sized lightbox presents household scenes which tell a history of America’s home kitchens over 230 years. Visitors are invited to peer through screen doors at life-sized, silhouetted figures preparing meals. with support from Alexandria’s Office for the Arts.

Through the Kitchen Door: Inside Out

This winter, the life-size lightbox will be reborn as an outdoor installation in Alexandria’s Market Square.  Installation will begin outdoors on January 25, 2021.  It will remain on view February 2 – 15, 2021, 24/7, but the best viewing will be after sunset.

Audio Guide

1790

Silhouettes of two women working in an 18th century kichen with a hearth, tools, and vegetable basket

 

1880

Silhouette of a woman in 19th century kitchen making chille relleno on an iron stove

 

1922

Sihouette of a woman and child washing and peeling potatoes in a 1920s apartment kitchen

 

1953

Silhouette of woman stir frying in a 1950s kitchen

 

1965

Silhouettes of a woman making TV dinners and a man looking into a refrigerator

 

2020

Silhouettes of a family making Iranian food

 

Installation Views

The first iteration of Through the Kitchen door was designed and built for the Torpedo Factory Art Center’s New Project Studio.  This interactive, multimedia, immersive lightbox was open to the public from August to November, 2020.

Videos

Interview with Anne O'Dell  Video Tour

Press

Washington Post:  In Alexandria, two art installations memorialize men and women who lived under exploitation