Stained
Shelley Miller
Open Space Residency, April-May 2011
Wandering the streets near Victoria's Chinatown, I stumbled across an amazing edible art installation by artist Shelley Miller at one end of the Waddington Alley.
Stained is a trompe l'oeil mural of sugar and icing made to mimic traditional Portuguese tiles. The center originally held a painted scene of ships at sea; still visible in this photo are the columnar cakes at the top, and a silhouette of slaves cutting cane in the bottom center. The progressive disintegrate is a key aspect of the piece:
"Miller�s ephemeral installations are like history itself, eroding and dissolving over time, subject to the distortions of told and retold stories, lore and myth...It is best viewed repeatedly as it changes."
