Onix M Nieves Vanga (N.Vanga) is a Puerto Rican artist, storyteller, and digital poet. Onix has created a dynamic practice that incorporates new and old media, videos, drawings, code art, and relics from diverse events to reference and question the universal and specific of a diasporic experience. In Onix’s practice seeks to understand how visual media can convey the strength, aesthetics, and sense of estrangement found in presenting the cultural legacy of human diasporic identity.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Most of the work is a historical ledger including one-line descriptions of all the bodies of labor that go into producing the sugar we consume. Consumption of a product without a relationship with the hands of labor.
The artwork's narrative speaks of sugar cane work laborers’ and commenced with questions that ask the story of how the view that informs perceptions of labor and the production of sugar today. From the Spanish Canary Islands to Brazil, Peru, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Martinique, New Guinea, and Guadalupe, countries with a long history of sugar cane continue to remark a time or continue to be part of its consumption.
Who is responsible for cutting sugar cane?
What's the feeling of hard labor?
Who whitened it?
Who consumed it?
Always operating with the assumption that history may be uncovered and exposed.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Sugar cane became a prominent crop all over the world from its introduction to the new work in the 15th century spreading through the Caribbean and South America and its immense profit for planters and merchants continued in the 17th century. Sugar plantation expansion resulted in the infamous triangle trade and the exploitation of forced labor. During this period, sugar rum was created through the process of molasses. The sugar and rum businesses thrived and expanded throughout the 18th century. Even though beet sugar began to compete with it at the start of the 19th century. Sugar experienced multiple economic crises in the 20th century, but it is still one of the most extensively farmed plants today, whether for sugar, rum, or biofuels.
How is it produced: Sugar canes are harvested from the fields, and then shredded and crushed to extract the sweet, sugary juices. Further refining is then carried out to produce sugar. The fibrous solid part of the canes can be burnt to power the other processes.
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
The works are made to give respect and dialogue between the past and present sugarcane workers' discussions
. There are numerous abbreviations for the folks who work in the fields and generate the sugar that we consume. But these words reveal little about their experiences, attitudes, and desires. In short, they conceal a great deal about their personal and collective identities. Part of this missing identity can be obtained from sugar aesthetics, in this example, they speak to the visual representations of sugarcane workers and their relation to sugar.
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Image 1 & 2: RB 2 These images show the artwork "White Gold" with and without participant interaction. "White Gold" is an interactive piece that mimics the act of slicing sugar cane. Using kinetic or camera tracking, participants engage their bodies to slice projected pieces of sugar cane. The work is further enhanced by introducing a machete tool, simulating the physical action of cutting.
Image 3 This image showcases the tool used in "White Gold," crafted from wood with added layers of sugar on the blade to represent the overuse associated with cutting sugar cane.
Image 4: RB 5"The Sugar-Water Turns" explores the reframing of sugar cane labor through a new lens. The video piece disrupts the iconography often dominated by stereotypes surrounding sugar cane. With voiceovers and affirmations related to its production, the work raises concerns that are often silenced—particularly regarding sugar consumption. These questions arise between idealized representations, critique, and propaganda.
Image 5: Coexistence in SpaceThis work honors and opens dialogue between past and present discussions of sugarcane workers. The focus lies on the personal and collective identities of these workers. Part of this missing identity is represented through sugar aesthetics—the ephemeral sensation of cutting sugar, the accompanying sounds, and the repression symbolized by traditional xylographs. These visual representations of sugarcane workers aim to bridge their historical connection to sugar with modern dialogues.
Image 6: RB 7"Ofrenda Dulce" is an altar offering dedicated to the sugar in our blood, paying tribute to the laborers who lost their lives across various eras. Open to the public, this offering showcases the known works of those who have passed, illustrating the labor of sugar from field to table, from past to present.
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