Sight and Taste

The installation I’ve created makes use of the two senses sight and taste. The senses are put into effect using a traditional candy which is hung from tree branches in a public, often occupied area of the College of Santa Fe campus known as the Quad. The installation speaks to our ability to give in to our child like tendencies when the opportunity arises and temptation is not far from our reach. In the installation I’ve created a one tree paradise for sweet tooth and scavenger alike. The candy is clean and edible.
The idea was to create an installation which would capture the viewer if only for a moment, to test their individual curiosity and temptation when opportunity is seconds away. The concept came from a child like idea of the past, when we all wished that candy grew from trees or fell from the sky. I chose to create this installation based on a desire to fulfill the unexplainable, unnecessary yet fascinating projects created at an early age in my conceptual mind.
Further inspiration for this project came from artist Penelope Thompson and her “Raintrees” installation in 2006 in the Jeju Installation Art Festival in Korea. In the installation Thompson suspended water filled sacks from branches of trees. The installation represented the feeling of Korea’s remarkable downpour in the rainy summer season. The installation resonated with me in the sense that I am not from a primarily moist climate, but I recognize that feeling from the last few summers in the city. There is a feeling of great abundance and comfort when the monsoons reach our small town. The installation relayed a strong presence of both.
I was inspired to recreate this installation in my mind’s oddly childlike way when I came across a package of gummie candies that took me back in time to when my family would visit my grandmother’s house and when I would break the pinata on my birthday. The only candy she had in the tin were gummie fruits and dinosaurs. The feeling of breaking the pinata and opening the candy tin were the same pleasant emotion. I wanted to create a moment of immature glee and suspend it in time. This installation is a small tribute to fond childhood memories long gone but near in mind.