Set in the Domino Sugar factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the Kara Walker “A Subtelty” exhibit (under the banner of Creative Time) opened in in early May. The giant white sculpture covered in white sugar was the focal point of the exhibit, though it also was surrounded by smaller sculptures of dismembered “sugar baby” children made of molasses that were equally striking. At the exhibit, Walker’s words about the exhibit are also on display:
At the behest of Creative Time Kara E. Walker has confected:
or the Marvelous Sugar Baby
an Homage to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of the New World on the Occasion of the demolition of the Domino Sugar Refining Plant
I had the opportunity to see the pieces up close and took in what I see as a strong and sobering statement about the history and business of sugar and its harvesting. The main sculpture was a rotund silhouette of a woman with all the stereotypical identifiers of the enslaved “Mammy,” with thick lips, heavy breasts, a massive posterior as well as large labias that can be seen from behind. It’s as though the Venus of Hottentot was transformed into a Sphinx .
Of course the setting of the show in the soon-to-be-demolished Domino sugar factory was perfect. It gave attendees a visual experience but also an olfactory one with the smell and signs of processed sugar and molasses still present in the now vacated factory.
The portrayal of pure agony reflected in the broken sugar babies, along with implied messages of of pain endured and burdens carried by the Sphinx, who even in the form of a caricature is an imposing figure, were admirable. Still, The absence of historic and factual cues on the cruelty and poverty, which is still present in many sugar plantations today, opened the door among many visitors to what felt like inappropriate humor centered on the anatomy of Sphinx, which was not at all the point of the piece. It was an unexpected and unsettling aspect of taking in the exhibit live, versus seeing just images.
All photos by SGP.
