For the Record: Food Confessions is the community art project for the 2023 Salem Arts
Festival, led by student artist Alexia Coleman and public artists Linda Mullen and
Claudia Paraschiv.

Food influences everyone somehow, from how they connect with their culture to their
body to their memories. This year, we ask the questions: How do you connect with
food? What stories do you associate with food? We will be asking community members of all
backgrounds to record those thoughts and stories visually on upcycled vinyl records.

In using the record as a canvas, we are flipping a material designed to be an audio
recording device into a visual storytelling device. Sounds and information recorded on
records provide an aural way back to old memories and a sensory way to process
information, just like the smell of your favorite food coming from the oven! For the
Record will be assembled in an interactive way on Artists’ Row that will allow visitors to
read, spin, and ponder their own Food Confessions.