About the Project
Back of House honors the invisible caretakers in our communities who nourish their friends, family and neighbors by sharing their culture and themselves through their food. They are immigrants with stories of love and loss, but with every meal they have a story to tell.
We want help to tell those stories.
For them, cooking is about taking care of people through ancestral traditions. It’s about communicating love and service through food. Most importantly, it’s about creating safe refuge by gathering with community, family, and chosen kin.
Back of House is a cookbook with 12 immigrant stories accompanied by an in-depth narrative and photography.
Recipes included are from the diasporas of Togo, Vietnam, South Korea, Mexico, Haiti, China, Armenia and more.
The book will be published on Saturday, November 8th, with a celebration at Bar Brava with snacks by Jook Sing, DJ, cash bar, and book signing.
Back of House is a collaboration between Diana Albrecht & Ryan Stopera.
About the
Artists
Ryan Stopera
Ryan is a mixed race, Chinese American, award-winning writer, director, photographer, producer and educator based in Minneapolis. A self taught artist, Ryan began his career working with individuals experiencing homelessness, children and families, and foster care youth, as well as in program development and affordable housing development. His background in social work and community organizing, and his relationships across communities make collaboration essential to his work. Working in community, creating connections, and sharing stories with each other is what drives Ryan’s work.
He has exhibited work at SOO Visual Arts Center, Minnesota Museum of American Art, Gamut Gallery, XIA Gallery, Indigenous Roots Cultural Art Center, Third Place Gallery, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Ryan’s films have been screened across the country and the world. He is the recipient of the 2018 Artist Neighborhood Partnership with CURA at the University of Minnesota, the 2019 MN State Arts Board Cultural Community Partnership Grant, and the 2021 and 2022 MSAB Artist Initiative Grant. He was a 2020 Creative Community Fellow with National Art Strategies, and his film “serenity” won the Audience Award at the 2023 Twin Cities Film Fest.
Diana Albrecht
Diana Albrecht is a queer, Korean adoptee, born in Seoul, South Korea, raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, and currently living in Los Angeles. She is a self-taught photographer who also works as a senior art director in the advertising space.
Driven by curiosity, her creative work uplifts and celebrates underrepresented stories through honest and joyful visual explorations. When photographing, she uses a mix of both film and digital formats to create soulful intimacy and connection between subject and viewer. Her experience in advertising allows her to seamlessly weave her narrative and design practice into her personal projects to develop a fuller understanding of her subject’s lived experiences.
Her work has been featured on Buzzfeed News, Augsburg Gallery, Sound Unseen Film Festival, and Public Functionary. Albrecht was an Ad Fed’s 32Under32 nominee, recipient of the 2020 CAAL Spark Leadership Grant and 2022 MSAB Artist Initiative Grant. Additionally, she was a mentor through the MCAD Design Leadership Institute and continues to empower and support BIPOC creatives through mentorship and community.
dianaalbrecht.com | @dalbrecht3
