The Blacker The Berry

The Blacker the Berries

These tiny blackberry candies are another of my creations for the Complexion Complex line. Based on the phrase, “The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice,” they seek to celebrate dark skinned individuals by presenting them as something delicious and desirable. I first sculpted them in polymer clay and then cast around 100 of them in resin. This piece – entitled ‘The Blacker The Berries’ – consists of dozens of tiny berry shaped sweets, each of which has a ‘stereotypically black’ human face. In the sculptural version, several of the candied berries are clustered together in masses of hanging vines, as real berries would be found clustered together in bushes. The piece also takes reference from a rather dark element of black history, summarised perfectly in the song ‘Strange Fruit’ – popularised by singer Billie Holiday. The song’s most powerful lyrics are as follows:

“Southern trees bear strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

[...]

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck

For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop

Here is a strange and bitter crop”

Like black bodies, the berries hang from plants, ready to be plucked and devoured. They are interestingly dark and cannibalistic in nature, yet simultaneously sweet and uplifting. Just as every other product in the Complexion Complex line, they have duality of meaning that allows them quite a bit of depth. They serve as a criticism of the historical hyper-sexualisation, exploitation and abuse of black bodies while also empowering those who occupy those same bodies.

For the end of year show, I presented ‘The Blacker The Berries’ as a cluster of 10ft long hanging vines in London Gallery West. They dominated the space they were in, trailing from the ceiling all the way down to the gallery floor.