A Subtlety by Kara Walker at Domino Sugar Factory

Did you get the opportunity to view Karla Walker’s exhibit at the Domino Sugar Factory in Williamsburg? If you saw it at the beginning you were able to see it when it was pristine and new. You were very lucky for I heard the line was not quite as long as the last two days.

My desire to see it was so strong that I tried to get there on Thursday in the pouring rain. They did not exhibit on that day and it was closed on July 4th. So on Saturday, I put on my surgical boot, picked up my cane, my camera, and took the trip to Lorimer Avenue. As I reached First and Third Avenue, I saw an unending line and hobbled block by block until I reached the end which was approximately 10 blocks. It took an hour and a half to enter the factory.

On July 6, a friend asked my opinion of the work and whether I had ever previously seen any of Ms. Walker’s work. The answer to the later question is “NO”. My opinion of the work is somewhat complicated.

First, I wanted to enter the Domino Sugar Factory before it is demolished. There is something about seeing and touching the walls of a building that was built in 1856 as well as its iconic view from the southern part of Manhattan; although local organizations tried to save it, the city approved the developer’s plan to destroy it. The Domino sign is no longer there.

Secondly, several years ago, I traveled to Poland and went to the salt mines. It was an incredibly experience, to walk on a salt floor, see a salt chandelier, salt sculptures depicting the story of the salt mine and so much more. This same feeling occurred when I walked into the Domino Sugar factory.

Approaching the entrance to the factory, the sweet smell of molasses reached our nostrils until the smell surrounded all your senses, then we walked into a very long factory hall and saw the sugar face of Karla Walker’s masterpiece. A face that reached up to the board reams of the ceiling, the face enthralls you to it and as you do, a young dark brown sugar boy stands by the entrance. He is carrying sugar canes on his shoulders and back. As you get closer, there are other brown sugar sculptures illustrating the slave sugar business. Some of these sculptures had started to melt and at the base was a black sugary molasses with a mirror-like shine.

I believe she had sculpted nine (9) slave boys depicting different stages of the sugar business and these were the figures that I was most impressed for the faces in brown and yellow sugar seemed to convey hardship, they were young boys, carrying loads of sugar cane or having a basket strapped to their back. When I attended there were not as many, I saw one that had melted and another that had partially melted and another with one leg showing its white frame. These figures told me more about their hardship and life than the large sphinx figure.

So my answer as to my opinion of the work, I say that I was very impressed, moved and very glad that I journeyed with thousands of others to see it. Since this will not be seen again unless you view a film or picture, I can say that I was part of this event which occurred in Williamsburg and I followed the steps of thousands of workers who spent long hours turning cane into sugar for us to enjoy.