Karla Diaz

Karla Diaz is an American artist who collects recipes from prison inmates and recreates them in performance using only ingredients and utensils available to those incarcerated. Her multi-media participatory performance piece Prison Gourmet comments on system-impacted communities and people, the politics of food and questions about institutional power. She has been exhibited in Spain, the UK and at multiple museums in the US. She teaches at California State University Long Beach. She and her husband cofounded the artists' collective Slanguage.

Early life and education Diaz was born in Los Angeles. Diaz recollected that the recipe, an imitation of tuna casserole, included tuna, mayonnaise, hot sauce, pickle juice, and was topped with crumbled crackers. The performances comment on issues of system-impacted communities and people, the politics of food and questions about institutional power. As of 2015 she had received 200 recipes. The most common recipe she receives are for spreads, which usually involve topping instant noodles with dry snacks and/or other ingredients.

According to Diaz, prison food recipes are less about the dishes' taste and more about "a reminder of humanity, community, and the person you were on the outside".

Recognition Diaz has received a Los Angeles Arts Recognition award. She has done three residencies as a Lucas Arts Fellow at the Montalvo Arts Center. She and Ybarra, representing Slanguage, did a residency at 18th Street Arts Center.