Sugar sculptures...

11:57 p.m.

03/26/18 - Zineb Sedira was born in Paris in 1963, to Algerian parents, and spent most of her life in England. This multiplicity of identities made her want to transmit the traditions of Arab women, especially those that are taught from mothers to daughters. By the year 2000 she travels to Algeria and that’s where her personal approach shifts to a more global one. Her works become more related to the sea, ships and the consequences and dangers of migration. With this in mind, in 2013, she creates her “Sugar Routes”, where she documents the global commerce of sugar.

The Sharjah Art Foundation in the United Arab Emirates currently exhibits the biggest retrospective dedicated to her work. Among all the many pieces on display, the sugar sculptures stand out, especially because they look more like sand sculptures.

Sugar Routes II, by Zineb Sedira (2013)

Two objects made of sugar: an anchor of 31 x 21 cm and a screw of 11 x 23 cm

After spending time investigating a silo at Marseillle’s Port, Sedira creates these sculptures to represent the routes and the people that are connected in Africa, South America, the Caribbean and Europe for the distribution of sugar.

Seafaring, by Zineb Sedira (2013)

15 glass bottles with sugar of canes from Antilles, Brazil (x 2), Burkina Faso, Cuba, Guadeloupe (x 2), Guyana (x2), Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion, Swaziland (x 2), Zambia / Measures: wooden shelf of 50 x 12,5 x 12,5 cm

Since the 19th Century, the commerce of this commodity involves thousands of lives, such as the slaves that worked the plantations in North America. Sedira introduces us to the global traffic of sugar, which after being refined and transformed into a white powder, reaches every corner of the planet.

Centuries ago sugar was considered a luxury. Today is seen as a necessity by millions of consumers from different cultures. It’s commerce still impacts greatly in the environment and the people as in the past years. Zineb Sedira shows us the roads of this merchandise and of the people involved. Her artworks can be related with today’s migratory routes of those seeking a better future.