Sweet Swollen
A series of works that consider histories and legacies of sugar and slavery, taking as their starting point a pair of late 18th century ‘blackamoor’ sweetmeat bowls in Meissen porcelain, held within the Victoria and Albert Museum collection.
The works include a series of sugarlift etchings on steel, depicting the gesturing hands of these figurines and others similar in design, fabricated throughout Europe from 1765 onwards; alongside an audio piece of edited interviews with eight V&A African Heritage tour guides. These works were originally commissioned in 2018 for the Jerwood Visual Arts Project Space, located within the gallery café; and formed the starting point for an on-going body of work.
