Our GOLDEN
State
The Sugar Coated Series
Artist Shannon Nix-Buchanan
explores how racism is like sugar in CA. May, 2018
You’re looking at SUGAR.
Under a microscope, that is. The organic shapes in the series are inspired by Candida Albicans (A.K.A yeast), magnified. Candida is a fungus that needs sugar to thrive. Fascinated by the sugar culture and how it fuels us and how like racism its toxic impact is not frankly talked about. Like in art…in food…in history….
the “make it look good and I don’t need to know what’s in it” mindset. The concept of “sugar coating” is real when it comes to the truth. Just like racism, sugar runs deep sticky, emotional threads through our veins. It runs so deep we can barely see it…we just kinda gloss over it and accept it as, “the norm”.
You’re looking at 24k GOLD.
Inspired by California, The Golden State.
Being a Southern CA native I felt a deep connection to the golden land, sand, and water beneath my feet during my recent trip to the gold rush country. As soon as I got home-Eureka I found it! I knew I wanted to include all kinds of gold…fools gold and real gold into the new work. I began to think about the concept of gold…a beautiful, single glittery speck. And though it’s a lovely speck, by itself it’s really not worth much unless someone takes the time to pick it up, dust it off, and gradually bring it together with other specks as a whole. Working with 24k gold reminds me that just like gold, we more often than not soften and warm and become more malleable as we work more closely together. And the more we blend-as one-the brighter and stronger and more valuable we become. Functional and beautiful, like solid gold, baby!
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You’re looking into the faces of Japanese AMERICANS.
Inspired by internment camp prisoners, many from Los Angeles. 6 of the 8 paintings are rendered from an image of a real Japanese American person taken from their home and relocated to the middle of nowhere, (1942-45). A tag hanging on each painting represents the tag pinned to each person’s clothes, on the day of extraction. Most families had one week to dispose of their property, including pets and businesses. They could only take with them what they could carry. I was so deeply moved, disturbed, and inspired by my visit to Manzanar, and was struck by the connection of racism and sugar. These paintings needed to re-tell the story. The story of how sugar is like racism…how it comes in many forms. How beautiful people can live in a beautiful landscape and still be trapped by the cruelty of false labeling. How blind ignorance is not bliss and limits our freedom, our mobility and our self worth. We must be willing to acknowledge that which we want to change.
Knowing that only the truth will lead to understanding.
Knowing only truth will set us free.
Thank you for looking. . .thank you for seeing.