Devoured - A Woman Of This Place
Unfortunately, my latest cake art is inspired by all the women I know and love.
I recently had the privilege of creating a (photographed) cake sculpture to exhibit in the Women Of The World (WOW) Festival. It’s dedicated to all the women out there who give and give, until there’s nothing left but crumbs…
Every woman around you seems to slowly descend into burnout…yet we act like it’s normal…like this is something women just have to deal with…”
FINDING THE CONCEPT
The WOW Exhibition theme, ‘Our Place’, asked for artists to respond to the places, issues and people that are shaping our community today, especially through the lived experiences of women and non-binary people.
While it took me a second to really digest the theme, my art concept came to me instantly…which is usually what happens when something hits a nerve and a little too close to home. When I thought about any woman in my life - my mum, friends, co-workers and even myself - one thought came up straight away, and that was ‘burnout’.
As kids, I think so many of us grew up watching our mothers quietly carry the emotional labour and mental load of the whole family - the constant cleaning, organising , cooking, planning and remembering. And at least in my house, this also included navigating school bullies (so many school meetings), teenage hormones and all the rest of it!
And then we grow up into adulthood and suddenly we’re watching our friends, colleagues and even ourselves taking on the exact same responsibilities. Every woman around you seems to slowly be descending into burnout, chipped away one little bit at a time…but we act like it’s normal. Like this is just what women do and have to deal with.
I think as women we’re more likely to take on that invisible workload and fall into the mindset of ‘I’ll just do it because it needs to be done’. We become the ones holding all the pieces together, not because someone asked, but because we’ve been conditioned to fill the gaps. And in the process, our time, energy and identity get slowly eaten away by responsibilities, expectations and obligations. Some chosen, some demanded and many simply assumed because we’re ‘the woman’.
We ignore the warning signs and push our own needs aside, letting our self-care slip. And it all comes at a cost. I hate that we’ve been pulled into this gendered role so deeply.
TRANSLATING BURNOUT INTO CAKE
I wanted to communicate ALL of these thoughts and feelings into my artwork. I didn’t want to just hint at burnout, I wanted this to have full impact. I wanted it to be uncomfortable for people to look at.
That’s when this idea popped into my head of a woman being eaten away. Not in a cannibalistic way (haha!), but in the same way that life chips away at us when we’re doing all the things for all the people. And because cake is literally made to be eaten, the metaphor felt painfully perfect. Women being consumed by everything around them…and the sculpture itself being consumed? I couldn’t ignore this idea.
So I sculpted a woman out of fondant and cake, which I presented as triptych to really hero the storytelling.
First frame - The woman is whole and smiling.
Second frame - Bites are taken. She’s being chipped away consumed by everything and everyone that needs her attention. But she's still smiling and pushing through.
Third frame - She’s utterly burnt out. Literally and figuratively consumed from giving to everyone but herself.
THE DETAILS
The Barbie-like form of the woman’s body was intentional. Barbie has long since been an idealised version of a woman - always smiling, polished and giving 110% everyday while still somehow managing to look flawless. Even stripped of clothes or context, that silhouette still carries decades of societal expectation.
I also made the bold choice of using a bright pink background (closely associated with Barbie). It’s fun and cute at first glace, but once you understand the story, the contrast actually becomes unsettling. That sudden gut-punch was deliberate and exactly the internal conflict I wanted the viewer to feel.
One of my favourite details is her arms. In the first frame, they’re just sitting by her sides. By the second and third frames, they’re bent open in a welcoming, giving gesture. So even in the midst of being worn down, she’s still offering herself and welcoming more responsibility, stepping into that traditional ‘women will take care of it’ role that society has thrust on us for generations.
In the final frame, all that remains is her arms. It’s an eerie and heart breaking echo of a woman’s capacity to give until there’s absolutely nothing left. I like to think it’s a haunting reminder of what we (as women) have to lose. Yes, we can rebuild ourselves with of love and care, and we can feel whole again - but realistically, we often fall back into the same patterns that caused burnout in the first place. So the cycle continues.
This piece is my reflection of what it means to be a woman of this place today.
