Medium: Cookies, royal icing, coloured whipped cream
Format: Participatory performance
Locations: Imam Khomeini International Airport, Tehran, Iran; University of Ardakan, Ardakan, Iran
Project Statement
Double Sugar emerged from the experience of saying goodbye to friends who were leaving Iran for Canada. In the contemporary imagination of many Iranians, Canada has become an idealized destination, a promise of a better life—a kind of contemporary garden whose promise makes departure seem filled with hope and joy. Alongside my friends’ excitement about beginning a new life, the sadness of separation raised a question for me: is this promised paradise equally sweet for everyone?
In this performance, doubling the amount of sugar in the cookie recipe turns sweetness into an experience of excess and eventual aversion. The Canadian flag is rendered in royal icing on the surface of the cookies, while the Iranian flag is formed from coloured whipped cream within them. Arranged together, the cookies become the leaves of a tree, creating the image of a temporary garden. As the cookies are offered to participants and eaten, the garden gradually disappears. Here, departure remains suspended between the sweetness of hope and the bitterness of separation.
