Self-bakers, between a mirror and dough

2025 - ongoing
Performative workshop, shared baking session

The shared baking sessions expand from an experience I had while trying to bake my self-portrait from a traditional Finnish bun dough: it became a battle between my ideas, my hands, and the qualities of the dough. It was a struggle about how the result should look, what I would want it to be like, and how it ended up looking after the dough rising in the oven. This confusing self-formation experience fascinates me and I continue exploring it as a social, shared performance.

The baking workshops have been organised as group sessions and one-to-one moments on various occasions and countries.
Each session begins with preparing the bun dough and is followed by a discussion about identity and representation. The participants are suggested to bake a self-portrait but there is space for storytelling and open-interpretation forms. The outcomes have varied from angry women to boyfriend buns, from posing for bun selfies and sharing touching personal stories. The workshops are documented with photographs and buns are tasted at the end of the session.