Protest Poster

Artist's Statement

The year after 11th grade, I spent two weeks in the Dominican Republic volunteering at orphanages and teaching supplemental summer camps for children in different communities. There was a lot to do, and plenty of social issues to see with no further digging. However, life was pretty good, considering. At the end of my first week, however, they showed us a documentary called "The Price of Sugar"-- an illegal copy, actually, because it was sued for libel, but you can watch it online now here thanks to the internet. It's a really great, powerful documentary, and I was especially affected because I saw Haitians treated with prejudice in my own experience while I was there, but at the same time, I never had any idea of this huge human rights issue right under our noses. The US buys sugar from the Dominican Republic at twice the world market price, despite the depravity of the situation in which it is produced. Haitians are illegally smuggled over the border, often for head-money, to work and live in communities called Bateys. These communities suffer from lack of fresh water, lack of food, lack of education or medical care, and are also commonly affected by prostitution and AIDS. The people working in these places are usually not allowed to leave, or are threatened into staying because they entered the country illegally. Their children are stateless, having no citizenship with either Haiti or the DR. And the sugar companies do whatever they can to prevent bad press, stifling not only the documentary I watched, but also another one, called "Sugar Babies." I've felt a strong connection to this issue ever since learning about it, not least because of its lack of exposure. No one seems to know about it.

Knowing all that I do about this problem, after watching a full length movie and doing personal research, I struggled to think of a way to condense all that into one poster. In the end, I felt that trying to do so would be foolish and would take away from the humanity of the cause, so instead I tried to encourage my audience to find out for themselves, like I was prompted to after first being exposed to the issue. I tried to choose some photos that woud accurately summarize the situation, and I tried to contrast it with what we normally associate with sugar with the picture of refined white sugar and the cheerful Mary Poppins quote. In this context, I think that phrase takes on a slightly more ominous and ironic meaning: all this, for just a spoonful of sugar? In the feedback I got from posting it on Facebook and showing my roommates, people were intrigued as I had hoped they would be. One of my roommates went so far as to look into what brands of sugar came from what places.

One thing that I thought about when I watched the TED talk about single stories this week is the value of them, as well as the danger. I actually agree with all that was said about them, their tendency to bias and prejudice, their lack o a varied viewpoint, but some countries could really do with a single story. How much aid is sent to Africa with their single story in mind? In contrast, the people I chose to spotlight this week have no story, have no voice, and it's killing them. It's an interesting conflict, but I believe single stories are better than no stories at all, and then we can develop further into more complex perspectives as we continue to foster open minds and world knowledge.