About the project
Sweet Tooth (2014-2016), was inspired by a news report that featured a group of American mothers petitioning the candy manufacturer, Mars, to remove synthetic dyes from the M&Ms candy product. The petition was based on the fact that Mars used (and still continues to use) natural dyes in their production of candies in Europe and the U.K., but not in the United States.
This project profiles a selection of candy based on my own personal consumption and experience with them, and their availability over-the-counter to children and adults alike. The candy is set within a diorama that I built, to suggest the manufactured and artificial nature of mass production, and emphasize the synthetic dyes listed as an ingredient on the candy wrapper.
The photographs are not a condemnation of any industry, but are a kitsch motifs similar to forms, shapes and colors used by candy manufacturers to stimulate and entice consumers.
The resulting images are intended to present a raw and subversive view through the whimsical nature of the artificially produced confectionery, conceived and set within industrial tableaux.
