On August 5, we arrived in Japan for our “A Painting For A Family Dinner” project, part of the Chiba City Arts Triennale 2025.
From August 7 to August 16, we were invited to the homes of 10 families; all had responded to the following open call for participation posted on various social media:
“Husband and wife artist team is offering a painting in exchange for an invitation to a family dinner. Please contact for more info.”
Participation was based on a first-come-first-served basis. There were no guidelines for our interactions, so we were open to any discussions that occurred. All the paintings were created in advance; each is a still life of fruits with "Thank You For Your Dinner!" written on it. At the end of each dinner, all participants were seated together, with the painting hung or held above, for a family portrait taken by a local photographer, Chiba prefecture native Aya Morimoto. The paintings stayed with the families.
The project was made possible by the assistance of the Triennale team Masashi Atsumi, Amber Hu, and Joy Yonebayashi, as well as photographer Aya Morimoto. Dōmo arigatōgozaimasu to all the families 🫶🏼
We started our “A Painting For A Family Dinner” project in 2008, and by February 2025 we had dinners with 62 families in 6 countries. Our journey up to that date is documented in the Alina and Jeff Bliumis “A Painting For A Family Dinner” book, published by the Museum Ostwall at Dortmunder U and Verlag Kettler, September 2025.
The project continues and hopefully there will be a volume 2 documenting our dinners with the next 60 families.
