Chocolate Braille

Wouldn't it be nice if the world was... 2009, Braille created from chocolate drops melted onto the gallery wall, March 2009, part of the group exhibition lure allure illusion at Gaffa Gallery.

The Braille tells the story of a young African boy, Aly Diabate, falsely lured away from his home in Mali to work on an Ivory Coast cocoa plantation. Slaving from dawn til dusk he struggled to carry large heavy bags of cocoa beans, often collapsing from fatigue and he was beaten severely for working too slowly. Aly was drastically underfeed and locked up at night with the other children, in a small confined room so they wouldn’t escape.
West Africa collectively produces three quarters of the world's cocoa supplies, so almost all the chocolate sold around the world today contains a percentage of cocoa produced by child slave labour. Perhaps our blind, almost childlike responses to the allure of chocolate fuels our naive illusions, but in reality our consumption of chocolate is much more destructive than than we superficially like to believe.

Siren's Song

An installation of feathers, mirrors, nylon and acrylic, March 2009, part of the group exhibition lure allure illusion at Gaffa gallery. 

Sirens, in Greek mythology, were mystical, dangerous bird-women, whose singing lured passing sailors to their deaths. In this installation feathers are tantalizing, intimate and seductive, like the Siren's wings, however there is a subtle sinister undertone of doom and destruction.