“The Best Apple Pie Recipes from Political Prisoners” is an ongoing cross-cultural collaboration that centers on reclaiming identity, tradition, and culture through the sharing of recipes and the act of baking apple pies. The project unites participants from diverse nations, with its premiere in Stockholm, Sweden, where Ukrainian refugees baked Belarusian apple pies using the bountiful harvest of Swedish apples. This heartfelt moment forges a deep connection between displaced individuals and their cultural heritage, highlighting the resilience of tradition in the face of displacement.
Through this initiative, Belarusian artist Ludmila Christeseva brings her concerns about the preservation of Belarusian identity into a broader dialogue on climate change and sustainability within Swedish society. By intertwining these themes, the project provides Christeseva a platform to amplify her voice, generating global resonance that has reached both the art world and academia. Ultimately, this collaborative effort is a powerful statement on the intersection of identity, solidarity, and environmental responsibility.
For Christeseva, this project also echoes a personal reclamation of femininity. Reflecting on Simone de Beauvoir’s enduring question from The Second Sex, “What makes a woman a woman?” the artist uses the act of baking to confront and reinterpret notions of femininity beyond stereotypes. This question—posed by de Beauvoir in her exploration of woman as “Other” in 1949—asks us to consider how womanhood can be both a personal and collective identity, shaped by traditions yet continually redefined.
Engaging with feminist values in Sweden, Christeseva finds empowerment in community rituals that blend strength and softness, heritage and progress. Through baking, storytelling, and shared recipes, this cross-cultural project answers de Beauvoir’s question in a way that transcends borders: femininity, as expressed here, is woven from resilience, shared memory, and the powerful unity of women who, despite displacement, reclaim their identities. This blend of cultures shapes a unique expression of womanhood, bringing the values of tradition and modernity into harmony within both local and global narratives.