Photographer and Bethlehem local Sasha Phyars-Burgess\u2019 installation, \u201cEverything Nice,\u201d is now the exhibit featured at the Bethlehem Public Library. First cultivated in early 15th century history, Phyars-Burgess\u2019 \u201cEverything Nice\u201d focuses on sugar cane\u2019s role in the history of enslavement and the practices still prevalent in modern society.<\/p>\n
She showed attendees around the installation Tuesday night, featuring photos on the outer glass wall, while narrating her thought process and artistic journey.<\/p>\n
Phyars Burgess began the presentation by introducing the question that inspired her installation \u2014 where her ancestors were during the era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.<\/p>\n
She said after learning about the concept of slavery as a child, Phyars-Burgess was shocked and confused at the concept of owning other people.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That feeling never truly went away, Phyars-Burgess said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She grew up in Bethlehem and spent much of her childhood in the very same library her work premiers in. Bethlehem Public Library was also where she found the answer to her question: sugarcane. Phyars-Burgess and her family are from Trinidad.<\/p>\n
She said her ancestors were enslaved and forced to cultivate sugarcane.<\/p>\n
Balancing themes of labor, culture and intrusion, Phyars-Burgess told the story of the trans -Atlantic slave trade and the lives of enslaved laborers through remnants of history.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The installation explores the history of enslavement, labor, and sugarcane across continents through photographs taken in Louisiana, Florida, the Dominican Republic and Portugal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pictures aren\u2019t direct representations,\u201d Phyars-Burgess said. \u201cYou\u2019re not gonna necessarily see people toiling in the fields. What you are gonna see is representations of land. You\u2019re not necessarily going to see piles of sugar. What you are gonna see is a photograph inside of a grocery store.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Phyars-Burgess said this approach is post-documentary and pseudo-journalist, which highlights\u00a0 the nature of the project as discovery and record making in a world where people can only interact with the impacts of slavery.<\/p>\n