The Lunch Truck Project was an Art Education project led by artist Shira Walinsky. It involved four food trucks largely located in West and North Philadelphia: Koja, Rami’s, Honest Toms, and Candyland. The designs on the trucks each represent the identity of the trucks owners and what they sell. Koja’s owners are Korean, Rami’s owners are Lebanese, Honest Tom is from Philadelphia, and Mr. Carter is African American from North Carolina. Koja uses patterns from Korean textiles and a traditional Korean table with bowls to represent their story. Rami’s uses Middle Eastern patterns and imagery such as the cedar tree from Lebanon. Honest Tom’s truck is a crazy mix of imagery from Day of the Dead skulls to patterns and animals representing the Southwest. Mr. Carter sells candy. His truck uses the format of a map of Candyland with drawings representing his journey working on a farm as a child to his families’ journey to Philadelphia and subsequent work here.
The trucks are metaphors for different waves of immigration and migration. A moving vehicle is a great metaphor for this concept.
The Honest Tom’s and Candyland truck designs were painted, photographed and then printed by P.L.U.G Digital as vehicle wraps. The designs for Ramis and KOJA were created with graphic design software and then printed as vehicle wraps. P.L.U.G Digital.
Students from ArtWorks! were involved in this project by going out to take photos of the trucks and interviewing truck owners. In addition, students made their own model trucks. These trucks were incorporated into a short stop-motion animation with their teacher Lara Figuara that was included in a film by Adam Carrigan about this project.
Location Note: Temporary project no longer on view (vehicle wraps designed to last 3-5 years).
