The Wealth of Some and the Ruin of Others

Installing the mural in the street...



Each sugar tile was applied with royal icing as glue.






These are my security guards




This guy worked across the street and he kept trying to get people walking by to taste the sugar. This woman was a good sport and tried. Most people thought he was pulling a prank and were too afraid to taste it.








Crack filling



Piping the border:



Drumroll.... here it is....

Exhibition at Galeria Pierre Verger in Salvador, Bahia

This is a ceramic installation of terracotta tiles I made in Canada and brought with me. The images are a combination of imagery relating to the history of sugar, colonization and slavery.





Photos of previous installations I did in Brazil.




Installing the show... with much help from my friends. The gallery didnĀ“t really do anything for the show. ItĀ“s the end of the season, and so they have no money left in the budget! We had to do everything ourselves. Luckily, it was a pretty straight-forward install.

More progress shots

All of the painting is now done. IĀ“m just waiting until next week to install it. I found a wall that I think will work well. It wasnĀ“t my first choice for location, but itĀ“s close to the gallery, so that was the deciding factor. I decided it was more strategic to choose a location close to the gallery so that people wouldnĀ“t have to go to 2 locations. The tiles are now stacked, and awaiting for their new home...

Almost there...

No more pictures just yet... waiting to use my friends camera. It sucks to have to borrow a camera. Ah well...
The sugar tiles are all painted. The mural design is now done. So IĀ“m basically just waiting until next week to install it in the street. I still have to find a place to put it. ItĀ“s been raining quite a lot which is really unusual for this time of year. Most of you have probably seen reports on the news about the floods in Brazil. IĀ“m not in that area, but itĀ“s not too far from here. Needless to say, thereĀ“s been a bit more rain than I had anticipated.

IĀ“ve also realized that the mural wonĀ“t last nearly as long as I had been expecting it to. The test I did in Montreal lasted 2 months. Even at different times of the year, in different Canadian cities, my sugar installations usually last about 2 months. But IĀ“m realizing that here, itĀ“ll probably be 2 weeks. For starters, the rain and humidity will eat away at the tiles a lot (LOT) faster. Even just in the apartment, a lot of my tiles keep "sweating" and getting little moisture spots. I have to re-do about 12 or 15 because they just wonĀ“t dry out and keep getting more and more rotten. IĀ“m used to dealing with the fondant tiles in dry weather, not the tropics. So the material itself is more fragile. And then there are the people. Canadians are a polite lot. One could even say shy, timid. Curious, sure. But Canadians are more inclinded to look, not to touch. Brazillians - not shy. They will touch. IĀ“m expecting that some people will even try to take some tiles off the wall. Who knows. ItĀ“s all speculation at this point. But IĀ“m getting really anxious to just get the thing up. What happens after is out of my control. I can deal with that.

The plan is to install the work the day before the opening. I also have to mount the exhibition in the gallery. IĀ“ll be showing photos and a small installation of ceramic tiles I made in Canada and brought here. The opening is Thursday, December 11. This week IĀ“ll be getting my photos printed and mounted. And IĀ“ll be looking for a new bikini. I thought that was a really important detail I should include in this posting.