Red Terroir
2025
Monascus purpureus is a type of mold traditionally used in coastal region in southern China — in provinces such as Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang — for rice wine and vinegar-making. It plays a key role in natural fermentation, shaping local flavours, while the pigments it produces during metabolism give foods an intense red hue.
The regions where Monascus has long been cultivated are also the departure point for many early Chinese migrants.
Red Terroir presents still-life featuring fermented foods from Southeast Asia, Japan, and Europe — regions historically connected by Chinese migration routes. Through fermentation and coloration with Monascus, these culturally distinct foods acquire a shared red tonality and a heightened complexity of flavor.
This still life invites viewers to critically reflect on the relationship between the spreading of microbial cultures and the movement of human populations. On a metaphorical level, it questions if what might initially appear as an “invasion” can also be understood as a process of enrichment and diversification, or assimilation.
Medium: table cloth, various food
Qu (曲) is made by using grains such as rice, wheat, barley, or peas as a substr ate, then inoculating or naturally enriching them with mold-dominant microbial communities. It serves as a fermentation starter for the next round of food production.
The well-known Japanese Koji is also a type of Qu — it is produced by inoculating rice or oats with industrially purified Aspergillus oryzae.
Monascus is often inoculated on glutinous rice to initiate a new round of brewing. In different regions, Monascus may be combined with other molds, such as Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, or Rhizopus species. Unlike the standardized single-strain inoculation used in industrial production, many small-scale local workshops rely on natural fermentation. During this process, the Qu attracts a more diverse range of culture, resulting in flavors that are less predictable but often pleasantly surprising.
Over the period of more than half a year, I experimented with different ways of working with this type of mold. In my domestic practice, I was able to produce rice wine, vinegar, miso, flavored cheeses, tempeh, a range of breads, and vegan charcuterie — as well as using its pigment for textile dyeing.