Sugar, Unsweetened

There are still two weekends left to see Kara Walker’s searing installation, "A SUBTLETY: 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."

Last weekend the wait was about 40 minutes on a line that stretched for blocks, so plan accordingly. Also check the Creative Time website for exact hours. I see they've just extended Saturday and Sunday viewing to 7 pm.

The space reverberates with the haunted past of the sugar industry and the damage—human, environmental, political, and otherwise—it has inflicted in satisfying our collective sweet tooth. The Domino factory, which during the 19th century refined more than half of the sugar in the U.S. will soon be erased by development, but the history will not.

You can  read more here, here, and here,  but this mother speaks for herself. And she’s gotten the walls to talk too.

The molasses figures are melting.