Sweetness And Light — Roshini Kempadoo

Roshini Kempadoo

Sweetness And Light

This early online web artwork was commissioned for La Finca/The Homestead (1996) about colonial ventures curated by Paul Hertz exploring the historical colonization on the technological present and the colonizing effects of technology. The website was published on Leonardo On-line Gallery (1996). Photographic prints from the artwork were curated for several exhibitions including techno.seduction, The Cooper Union, NY (1997) curated by Robert Rindler and Deborah Willis.

An exploration of media/cyberspace, information networks and the use of new technologies echoes physical and psychological spaces of colonialism and the European expansionist past. An analogy of the colonialist experience as characterised by the plantation - whether it is sugar, cotton or cocoa. There is the act of colonizing a space, place - using physical and psychological dominance; there is the motive - a clear strategy of economic and cultural gain and there is the effect - endless, perpetuating poverty and economic imbalance. These things are clear in both experiences. Needless to say the success of both the plantation and media/cyberspace was/is/will be largely due to its intricate and complex system of hierarchy both in race and power.

'The magnitude of the Price estate by the last quarter of the eighteenth century was largely the result of the economic aggressiveness and political eminence of Sir Charles Price.'

'Yet to attribute the rapid growth of the Price empire solely to ...its...owner is to ignore the contribution of ....the myriad Negro slaves. Sir Charles Price planned and schemed, but the pyramid of his family's fortune was based firmly on the back

‘Economic productivity had permanence in the West Indies, the individual tenure of Europeans did not ... few ... relinquished the hope that they or their white progeny would some day accumulate the means to return comfortably to Britain.’ British

‘… their overriding economic focus was reflected in the meagre quality of community life. Public facilities were limited to the barest requirements of God and government … Intellectual life was not esteemed… Life was consumed by .....'- the weather,

The head people , ' ... held the key to the effective control and efficient management...'

He learns to read; he feels, thinks, reflects ... He discovers himself to be one of a debased and degraded race, deprived of the elementary rights … granted to all men alike..

'The magnitude of the Price estate by the last quarter of the eighteenth century was largely the result of the economic aggressiveness and political eminence of Sir Charles Price.'

'Yet to attribute the rapid growth of the Price empire solely to ...its...owner is to ignore the contribution of ....the myriad Negro slaves. Sir Charles Price planned and schemed, but the pyramid of his family's fortune was based firmly on the back

‘Economic productivity had permanence in the West Indies, the individual tenure of Europeans did not ... few ... relinquished the hope that they or their white progeny would some day accumulate the means to return comfortably to Britain.’ British

‘… their overriding economic focus was reflected in the meagre quality of community life. Public facilities were limited to the barest requirements of God and government … Intellectual life was not esteemed… Life was consumed by .....'- the weather,

The head people , ' ... held the key to the effective control and efficient management...'

He learns to read; he feels, thinks, reflects ... He discovers himself to be one of a debased and degraded race, deprived of the elementary rights … granted to all men alike..

Such absolute power, indeed, cannot fail to be peculiarly delightful to a man. The History of Sugar - Volume 2. Noel Deerr. 1950