MATERSBIER

Each year Trappist monks fast for all 40 days of Lent. Trappist monks support themselves by brewing their famous beer, and each day receive their own daily pint—the beer the monks drink themselves is called patersbier. During Lent despite fasting, they receive a double portion of beer.

Matersbier co-opts imagery from Trappist breweries—a very male tradition. Historically beer has been the purview of many kinds of people (from said Trappist monks to women brewing in their Victorian kitchens for their families). And right now beer does feel very masculine with the contemporary craft beer scene and multiple declarations of “I like beer” in front of the Senate.

Self-portrait drawings mounted onto beer coasters projects myself into these spaces. The coasters serve as sites for exchanges: sharing a pint is usually a space for honest words. With all the inflammatory speech and tribalism in the world right now, I hope that even the simple act of lending an empathetic ear can push against today’s exhausting political climate.