FRAGMENTING SUGAR

Amidst the unruly vegetation and urban landscape in Trinidad lie the ghosts of a once prominent industry. The world of sugar had its presence in Trinidad from the 18th Century until the final mill shut down operations in 2003. The industry may have disappeared but it left behind scars on the landscape that hint at what was once there. The Brechin Castle Sugar mill, the final operating mill of Caroni (1975) Ltd, stands as one of the ghosts left behind by this industry; abandoned, dilapidated, and overrun by vegetation.

Upon visiting this site, I found myself fragmenting the structure, photographing it in pieces and focusing on key moments. The building itself is in fragments, divided by its structure and subdivided by its dilapidation. It is difficult to experience its totality, only engaging with certain pieces at a time. My proposal seeks to heighten that experience, emphasizing the sense that something is missing, both visually and historically, metaphorically referencing the loss of an industry.

I have chosen to convert the structure into an unconventional performance space that can both be used in conjunction with the sugar museum that exists on the site as well as an open public space for general leisure. Using the existing structure as a guide, the building is divided into two wings. The larger, tube-like space will house the more unconventional theatre space, featuring three “floating” platforms for performers and a series of fabric walls that are perforated to focus one’s views and fragment the way in which they experience the space and the performance. The second wing is slightly more conventional, characterized by an archival space, storage room, and restrooms on the lower level and a series of exhibition walls on the second level that force a visitor to navigate through the space in a zig-zag path, creating moments that pull them closer or further away from the performance that can be seen in the other wing. At the end of this section is a standard theatre/lecture space with retractable walls that open out into the surrounding landscape. Through this project, the hope is to highlight the presence of the fallen sugar industry and convert users of the space into active players in its history, turning even an audience into a set of performers.