A Decadent World is a series of allegorical images of an imagined world inhabited by animals and animal/human hybrid creatures wherein I explore the relationship between animals and humans. I am at once perplexed by and in awe of this relationship, its inherent power dynamics and the myriad ways human cultures use, abuse, fear, love and revere animals. Images of divine beings from different religious and mythological traditions depicted as having human and animal attributes as well as the royal menagerie of King Louis the XIV, wherein “exotic” animals were kept as symbols of power, wealth, and entertainment inspire my imagination and work.

 Process/Materials

I sculpt with confectionary materials to explore the transformative relationship betweenculture and nature; sugar is grown (nature), processed and transformed (culture) into symbols of decadence, frivolity, abundance and celebration. Elephant-human, giraffehuman, bird-human and other animal-humans are sculpted from cake maker’s media (fondant, royal icing, sugar) and arranged into tableaux to be photographed. The forms begin with rice cereal treats that I mold into animal and topiary forms. I then cover them with royal icing and fondant, and decorate them with more royal icing. I frost the skies with royal icing and a spatula. I use green sanding sugar to make the grass, and pipe royal icing to make hedges. The photographs are fixed images of ephemeral, imagined worlds. They are made with a 4x5 camera with a digital back, manipulated and processed digitally.