Sweet Barrier Reef

Photo by Lucy Macnaught, Darren Hopton, Julia Yonetani and Art Gallery of South Australia

Vennue: Art Space Sydney and Art Gallery of South Australia

Dimension: 6m x 12m x 1.6m and 3.6m x 12.5m x 1.3m

Medium: White sugar, Icing sugar, Polystyrene foam and Coral cakes for performance

Sweet Barrier Reef focuses on the event of coral bleaching. Coral bleaching refers to the process leading to coral death. River waters containing high levels of suspended sediment cause coral death and bleaching. This sediment often comes from harvesting sugarcane, and is known to be one factor leading to bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef. Many large sugarcane fields are located beside coral reefs, leading to coral damage across the globe. In this project, I focus on the connections between consumption and human impact on the environment by creating a reef out of sugar. Here, I do not focus only on the impact of the sugarcane industry; rather sugar is used as a much larger metaphor for our desire to consume and its environmental impact. Sugar becomes a metaphor of human desire. It is also strongly connected to processes of “colonization”, “modernisation” and “consumerism”.