Art Box #4: How to Make a Man — Jemima Burrill

What if one artwork could crack open a whole universe? In Art Box, we take one piece and unbox it like a portal — how it lands, how it shifts the room, how it moves through culture. We trace the hidden stories inside the frame, then leave you with questions, prompts, and small rituals that turn watching into a slower, deeper, more deliberate practice.

Cinnamon in the air. The counter is dusted with flour like your porch on a white Christmas. A woman looks straight at the camera and smiles the way cooking-show hosts do — calm, capable, reassuring. The kind of smile that says “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” She kneads the dough. Press. Fold. Turn. “Cooking, after all, is like a relationship: if you don’t get messy, the dough won’t rise”, she says. You believe her immediately. Welcome to "How to Make a Man" (2003) by Jemima Burrill — a video artwork that borrows the language of cooking shows… and serves up something completely different. Burrill stages a kitchen ritual where men are baked, decorated, discussed, and ultimately consumed. Not too hard. Not too soft. Just malleable enough.