A recent favorite piece of mine that will be shown for the first time this evening is titled "Sugared Sweets are the Devil's Treats." It is an oversized charm bracelet that is overflowing with bedazzled ceramic charms that are a blend of sweet treats and sex toys. To name a few charms, there is a ring pop, a rabbit vibrator, Smarties candy, and an M&M. Growing up in the South, I was surrounded by this unspoken rule: we avoid talking about sex. It was hush-hush, steeped in shame, and framed as something inherently bad. Sweets have this strange duality for me as well—something which was so desirable but always paired with warnings: “Too much candy will rot your teeth.”
This piece compares these sexual objects to sweet candy, both things which, at the time, I grew up worrying would rot me as a person the same way. I had this experience of thinking, "What is so bad about this and why is it considered sinful? Should I feel guilty thinking about these things?” This piece plays with this message of how both candy and sex are things we’re drawn to even though we are told they’ll somehow “ruin” us.
This charm bracelet becomes a big, shiny playground for all those mixed feelings, folding humor in with Southern guilt, but ultimately is just a self-portrait of me trying to own it all. It feels like a piece that is long overdue.
For the record, I can safely say I consume a lot of candy and am pretty OK.
