Sasha Bowles

Pineapple Sugarcube

Trace Elements | 1971, curated by Rosalind Davis at the Factory Project, organised by Thorp Stavri

Installation. Photocopy paper, cardboard and tape, 2021

Pineapple Sugarcube, plays with the theatricality of wealth – a façade of tropes, symbols and pomposity. Using images from stately homes and carved pineapples Sasha’s 4 metres high; paper, cardboard and tape installation, Pineapple Sugarcube was fabricated in Silvertown inside a disused Tate and Lyle warehouse. Silvertown’s wealth grew from the revenue of the importation of exotic pineapples in the 18th century. So sought after, the pineapple became a symbol of wealth, luxury and nobility and importance. Their facsimiles carved in stone can be found on entrances and on the pinnacles of buildings throughout England. Worth thousands of pounds they were too expensive to eat and were paraded from event to event until rotten. A symbolic showy façade between the pompous nobility, serving no purpose other than ostentatious extravagance.