Last summer, my husband, Kevin became quite obsessed by a story he discovered on twitter, of how someone had successfully managed to bake a loaf of sourdough using 4,500-year-old yeast found in an ancient Egyptian pot. Kevin has told the story to anyone that would listen, very impressed that something so unique could be created.
Fast forward 6 months, and I am approached by TUFTS university magazine, to illustrate an article about this very same amazing story. It was my turn to do some investigation. It turns out that the “someone” was in fact TUFTS alumni, Seamus Blackley, who, after creating the Xbox, went on to become a gastroegyptologist. (I mean, really, some people are just too cool). Blackley has an amazing thread on twitter, explaining how he managed to recreate this authentic ancient Egyptian bread.
TUFTS asked me to incorporate some of Blackley’s photographs into the artwork, so it turned out to be a really fun commission. You can read the article online here.
And Kevin’s response was, “Do I get to try some of the bread?”
Wishful thinking.
X, Willa