Daily dose of Art n°9 - a fusion between material and meaning - Kara Walker, Sugar Baby

This piece was ordered by a sugar factory that was closing and wanted to do an exhibit on its history. The artist went to visit it and, struck by the molasses-covered walls, had an idea for the piece, entitled "Subtlety or the Marvelous Sugar Baby", with a long subtitle uncovering the history of it.
Let's explain the title, back during the XIXth century, Europeans enjoyed putting "subtleties" on their tables, which were little sculptures made of sugar. Of course, that's the central part, the big sphinx. It's actually polystyrene covered in white sugar -since, for sugar at least, white = refined and that was the only acceptable option back then-. Of course, here, it's far from little; it represents a slave working there, the size fits the importance of the role in the whole sugar industry back then. The sphinx had an important role as guardian in the Egyptian sculpture, and this position was picked because it allowed the artist to show someone fierce and firmly seated...