April Banks: Free Chocolate February 1, 2007

In her first solo exhibition, conceptual artist April Banks explores the intricate global economy that is driven by worldwide demand for cocoa. Based on years' of research and travel to cacao farms in Ghana and Cuba, Banks articulates cocoa's global journey from the subsistence farmer, to the plantation owner, to the trader, to the chocolate makers, to the chocolate lover. In addition to the brand new exhibition, she is collaborating with Bay Area artists and artisans to create a micro chocolate shop that will offer products inspired by chocolate. This ambitious project grapples with issues of colonization and slavery, fair trade and sustainability, and the complex relationship between guilt and desire.