The past two weeks have been very productive and I have continued to use Marshmallow, as an ‘edible flesh.’
I have been thinking a lot about women, our bodies and food recently. The studio visit from film-maker Tereza Stehlikova and performer Tereza Kamenicka allowed us to explore women’s sweet pleasures, indulgence of the senses and female embodiment.
I layed out a spread of hybrid objects and sweet treats allowing them the complete freedom to respond to the work, and edible items on offer.
Being mindful of flavours and textures, I prepared sweet, lavender nipple meringues, crystallised rose petals, chocolate casts of my tongue that had a rose fondant centre, a plate made from chocolate, which became limp and started to melt away from the heat and a rose flavoured marshmallow, which is traditionally what the french flavoured their marshmallow.
(Sweet, lavender meringue nipples and crystallised rose petals)
Below are stills from the footage taken:
Tereza’s performance was very captivating to watch. She tapped into raw, carnal forces whilst interacting with both objects and food. I plan to use the film and other explorative sessions to feed into the development of new work. It is really interesting to relinquish all control and to allow the work to be interpreted. It offers me a another perspective.
This sticky membrane becomes ingested and forms part of her body, whilst she takes the remnants and rubs it’s pink ligaments into her skin as a way of completely incorporating ‘the other’
The following day, I attended a historical sugar workshop hosted at the School of artisan food and run by Tasha Marks
Tasha gave us a fabulous informative talk of sugar as artistic medium, followed by a hands on activity using the moulds she created for installation ‘Alabaster Ruins’ @vamuseum last year.
Here are some small relief sugar sculptures that I produced:
Tasha has provided me with the skills to use sugar as a sculptor’s material as these sweet pieces are inedible and would probably break teeth if consumed! I am looking forward to making my own moulds and experimenting further.
However it was during her demonstration on how to make a 17th century sugar paste, that I observed how the clouds of sweet, sweet powdered sugar, hit me in the back of my mouth and lingered.
The scent and more importantly the taste of the sugar permeating the air, makes me more aware of how confection is a performative and immersive experience. So I am about to book my next course…….more sweet morsels to come!
“In a sense then, sweetness remains outside, inappropriable, a restance. Sweetness is nothing but reminders, remainders, residues, remnants, restes, ruins, Derrida’s remains, leftovers.” (2003 Parallax Journal; Bon Appetit)
