Christina Dietz, interdisciplinary artist

Soup Shoes (2016), Photography by Cody Goddard

__underdog__ (x+c): What is an underdog?

*Christina: An underdog is someone who isn’t necessarily expected to be successful/ have success. They fight tooth and nail and make things happen through determination.

__underdog__: Are you an artist? Why or why not~

Christina: Yes! I feel at home as an “artist”. What other community would appreciate my oddness so much?

__underdog__: Are you part of a “scene”? What is the scene and how do you view it?

Christina: Ugh I don’t know. I just moved to Jersey City almost a year ago so I really have been working hard to find a community! I’ve recently started co-curating video/performance nights that involve artists that use food in their practice. This has really helped me to get to know other artists in the area with similar passions.

__underdog__: What do you believe in? Is there a philosophy you apply to art making or life in general?

Christina: Dig in. Listen to what “tickles” you. Follow what you are drawn to because this is when you are most sincere.

Cycle, 2017

__underdog__: Where does your work come from? What drives you and your practice?

Christina: I grew up in Central Pennsylvania, surrounded by a lot of agriculture and food companies like the Utz Potato Chip Factory, Snyder’s Pretzels of Hanover, Lebanon Bologna, and Hershey’s Chocolate Factory. The spectacle of industrial farming and mass food production combine with my interest in how we relate to one another. I subvert objects and systems associated with production to explore assumed social roles and interactions. I project the visceral properties of multi-stepped systems, often associated with food making, onto situations that deal with the body and social structures.

__underdog__: What challenges do you face and how do you deal with them?

Christina: I can be very hard on myself and the pressure to produce or uphold personal expectations is stifling. I try to take this self judgement and diffuse it with humor in my work. I hyperbolize qualities that I don’t like about myself to approach them in a lighter way.

__underdog__: Is your work important? Explain?

Christina: Hmmmm. I think it asks us to look at things that are familiar in a new way. I hope it functions in a way that children’s books often do. They make you ask “what if” and prompt you to think beyond what is considered possible. What if the clouds were cotton candy? What if it rained Cool Blue Gatorade? What if the lines on the road were harvested to make yellow mustard? In order to change society, we must stretch our brains to think beyond what is currently deemed “possible”.

__underdog__: How would you describe your work to someone who can’t perceive it with the main sense it applies to.

Christina: I make objects that are kind of like odd inventions or videos that explain a process in a made up way. My work questions the world of post industrialized food production from a feminist perspective. With food, I am often asking; Who makes this? How is it made? Where does it come from? Who gets to eat it?... and why?

__underdog__: CATS OR DOGS?!?!

Christina: Cats! I always look for them in the park near my apartment and when I’m out for a jog.

*Christina's name is typed here in pink to help some readers distinguish between her responses and our questions. If you have suggestions on how we can increase the accessibility of our "questionings" or any content on our website, please email us at: underdogmagazining@gmail.com.