Here is another project I undertook this semester. I had to put my baking and artistic skill to the test in order to add another layer of illusion to Sosus of Pergamum's asàrotos òikos motif.
Roman mosaics were an essential part of everyday life for many Romans. They occupied bathhouses, domestic homes, and many other architectural structures in Roman life. I am focusing on a peculiar yet reoccurring theme in ancient Roman mosaics, the asàrotos òikos, or "the unswept floor" (Fig. 1). This particular mosaic occupies the floors of dining spaces, precisely space generally regarded as the Triclinium(Faas 2003). The mosaics would have been located between the couch and table, where these scraps would naturally fall(Molholt 2008). It consists of a variety of scrap foods, such as picked off bone scraps, the legs of sea creatures, sea urchins, picked over fruits, shells, olives, and whole greens. While there have been many theories as to why this scene was depicted on the floor of an elite Roman, it nonetheless points to what daily life may have been like in an elite Roman household. In my project, I tried to escalate the original pun of the mosaicist Sosus of Pergamum (Dunbabin 2014). While one can not travel back in time to attempt to understand whether this floor was meant for humor, status, or satisfying superstitious thoughts, it is clear this was an act of repetition among Romans. At dinner, they were meant to toss their scraps to the floor, but they are also throwing them on top of illusionary scraps of food. At the end of the night, it may have even been difficult for the drunken guests to tell what was real or fake. My project combines these thoughts. I created a sugary dessert, or mensa secunda, to be enjoyed at the end of a meal, but also emulated the meal itself and the decorations around them (Fig. 2). By creating a decorated sugar cookie mosaic with depictions of these food scraps, I attempted to unlock an extra layer of meaning of permanence in the food left behind
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