Cystic Slab

Marble and Milk Chocolate

This work encourages individuals to reconsider skin conditions such as acne. Puss filled acne lesions are often perceived as repulsive blemishes that ruin what would otherwise be clear, smooth, and beautiful skin. From the age of 10, I myself have struggled with acne and its aftermath of scarring. In a sense, this sculpture serves as a self portrait. Before you is a representation of my own chocolate brown skin, poured onto a marble slab as though it is about to be ‘tempered’. Tempering is the traditional European technique of producing firm, shiny and flawless sheets of chocolate. However, this slab is not smooth by any means. It is quite defiantly imperfect, covered in pockmarks and defects which ruin its otherwise flawless surface. It has been left to decay on the slab on which it sits. During this period of decay, small, round, white blemishes will begin to form as fat rises to the surface of the chocolate – a result of changes in temperature and humidity within the enclosing gallery space. Repulsive as it may appear, the chocolate is still entirely edible; though few would dare to taste it. This piece combines repulsion and enticement. It highlights the hypocrisy of scorning an object that was previously considered desirable, purely because superficial blemishes have developed on its surface. All skin is ‘good skin’, and those who suffer from cystic acne should not be made to feel unattractive or undesirable because of a condition they cannot control.

Decomposition and blooming are possibly the most important elements of this piece. Above are some before and after photos of a slab I previously made, in which the process of fat blooming can be seen. There is a real sense of beauty in the way in which the fat forms on the surface of the chocolate. It takes on a similar kind of repulsive appeal that is evoked in the formation of fungus; the same round forms begin to appear. They overwhelm the face set within the slab to such an extent that the ‘pimples’ – which were the only features that previously overwhelmed it – are completely unnoticeable. They are buried entirely beneath this film of fat. I am quite interested in the way in which the piece almost comes to life when the fat begins to bloom; it is constantly changing, almost of its own accord. The relationship between the consumption of chocolate and the development of acne is also significant to this sculpture.

When this piece was exhibited, the chocolate sculpture on the large marble slab was accompanied by a smaller marble slab, which held three cystic chocolate bars. Viewers were practically invited to take a bite