Confections #65

The Confections series began as a response to turning thirty. My original idea was to bake 30 birthday cakes for myself and photograph them. I ordered a kit from marthastewart.com and watched an instructional video on decorating cakes. When I quickly discovered my cakes were never going to look like the ones in the video and the pamphlet, I decided they were better off in their exuberantly imperfect states. Cakes are the centerpieces of celebrations and symbolic trophies evoking nostalgia and awe. In the constructions of these images, I am commentating not only on cake as a rich cultural symbol, but of the idealism of the contemporary lifestyle. It's a fantasy world where entertaining, cooking and decorating unite. It's a place where one needs to have a beautiful home, decorated seasonally, in order to entertain friends with gourmet meals and elaborately concocted desserts. With the exception of found antiques and fabrics, everything in these images is handmade. Although the cakes are