amnesty box is an iterative sculpture series addressing the impossibility of export of a tropical aesthetic from island cultures.

amnesty box (honey), 2018
acrylic, lead, raw kaiwe honey

Raw white honey harvested on the island of Hawai’i is sealed in an opaque black acrylic container, its 3 fluid ounce chamber lined with lead. It is an object that can never be shipped or transferred via cargo on a commercial airliner across the Pacific, lest it be destroyed or confiscated by TSA or agricultural officers during inspection. A slightly foreboding & enigmatic homage to the hyperreal layer of gloss that radiates from all things “tropical” – the authentic fakeness that belies its cultural fixity and undeniable function. Situated low to the ground, camouflaged by its own reflective surface and the tropical plants that surround it as part of its installation. What can and cannot be exported and how are the sweetest parts of the tropics obscured and protected by its own synthetic shine?