Marking art with Sugarcrete®
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Published
13 June 2024
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Building materials from the University of East London (UEL) have turned up in an unusual setting, forming part of an exhibition at John Hansard Gallery in Southampton. Award-winning British artist Gayle Chong Kwan constructed sculptural blocks from bagasse, the waste material left over from sugar production, which was supplied by the University. UEL researchers use bagasse to construct their innovative bio-material Sugarcrete®.
The blocks were made into sculptures, as part of Gayle Chong Kwan’s exhibition ‘A Pocket Full of Sand’, which focused on sand and sugar as ways of interrogating connections between Mauritius, a former British colony, and the Isle of Wight. These two locations situate Gayle Chong Kwan’s work, which makes explicit the colonial legacies and connections of the two islands, examining political and physical structures of power, labour, leisure and childhood.
Dr Chong Kwan commented on her research and collaboration with the Sugarcrete® team. She said,
I have been working with the University of East London on the Sugarcrete® project in the Architecture Department on the use of bagasse, the waste remains of the sugar industry, as an architecture building material. It has been an incredible research opportunity to develop a new body of work that explores and engages with my wider research concerns alongside histories associated with Mauritius and the Isle of Wight.
The exhibition was hosted at the John Hansard Gallery in Southampton, in partnership with the arts organisation, Film and Video Umbrella, from February to May 2024. Sugar featured prominently throughout the installation, as the sugar industry was the mainstay of the Mauritius economy throughout the colonial period, with a workforce comprising first of slaves, and then indentured labourers.
UEL Senior Lecturer Armor Gutierrez-Rivas, who has been heavily involved in the Sugarcrete® project since its inception, welcomed the chance to collaborate with the art world. He said, “Exploring opportunities for Sugarcrete® beyond a construction material and looking at its potential as inspiration for evocative visual art installations was key to the collaboration with Gayle.”
Sugarcrete® is a low-carbon alternative to bricks and concrete blockwork developed by the University. The material combines sugarcane fibres left over after sugar production, with sand-mineral binders to produce bricks that have a carbon footprint six times smaller than traditionally made clay bricks. The project is a collaboration between the UEL MArch Architecture programme and the University’s Sustainability Research Institute, with the support of Tate & Lyle Sugars.