SUGAR MAMA

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

Did you know there's a giant sphinx made out of sugar currently residing in an abandoned Domino Sugar factory in Brooklyn?  Not only is there a behemoth of a lady sphinx, but she is accompanied by a gaggle of children made out of molasses.  The entire experience is quite overwhelming, from the damp, expansive space to the ultra sweet smell that permeates your nostrils upon arrival.  Never one to really sugarcoat the issue, Walker's work over the past 20 years deals with themes of race and culture, and her overtly sexual, graphic, and suruprisingly lovely silhouettes have become ubiquitous with the relationship between art and cultural identity in our age.  This, her first large scale public project overwhelms both in its sense of scale, and also for its surprising relationship to her earlier work & development of the themes therein.  See the last time I wore my Kara Walker dress here.

Dress:  Jill Stuart

Sandals: Sam Edelman

A Subtlety is on view in Brooklyn until July 6, 2014.

Photos of me by Kathy Paciello; all other photos by me.