Tough to Swallow

Print ⦿ Ceramic

3'x3'

This piece is supposed to be supplemental to the rest of the Aesthetic Cannon series. While the viewers are looking at the series/mind map, they are to chose and consume actual chocolates with the names.

I want the viewer to experience trompe l'oeil with the gourmet chocolates, yet the chocolates are more idealized and shinier than actual chocolate. Each chocolate has a name associated with stereotypes, derogatory terms, and African American colloquialisms on a separate chocolate description. To the viewer, the chocolates are supposed to be appealing and appetizing at first site, but then there is supposed to be a realization that they are supposed to consume the same phrases that impact Black people. As a result, these terms are now given/offered to the viewer, but only temporarily because they are allowed to walk away or decline whereas not everyone has the luxury of that.