Sugar Skin

Original Language TitlePiel de Azúcar

Artist Betsabeé Romero (Mexican, born 1963)

Date2007

MediumFour carved tires with Taino iconography, printed on three tons of sand

DimensionsA: 8 1/2 x 23 3/4 inches (21.59 x 60.33 cm)
B: 7 3/4 x 23 inches (19.69 x 58.42 cm)
C: 7 1/4 x 6 1/2 x 23 1/2 inches (18.42 x 16.51 x 59.69 cm)
D: 7 1/2 x 7 x 18 1/2 inches (19.05 x 17.78 x 46.99 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation

Object number2013.12.2 A-D

On View

Not on view

Collections

Contemporary Art

Terms

DescriptionThis work consists of 4 tires with various Taino iconographic symbols carved into them. The tires are then rolled over 3 tons of sugar or sand on the floor to create patterns in it.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

In Sugar Skin, Romero has repurposed four worn tires, likely from a forklift or other work vehicle. The carved motifs belong to the pre-Columbian Taíno culture that once thrived on the Caribbean island now known as Puerto Rico and on another now shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Romero’s use of sugar (here sand) and rubber is a reminder of the commodities that were exploited by the Spanish overlords of past centuries through the labor of enslaved people. The tracks in the sugar reaffirm the presence and rituals of the now-extinct Taíno people.

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