This episode features A Subtlety, American artist Kara Walker’s first ever public art installation. Creative Time, a New York-based organization that produces public art projects internationally, invited the artist to respond to the history of the abandoned Domino sugar refinery in Brooklyn. A Subtlety, also known as The Marvelous Sugar Baby, references the intricate sugar sculptures once made for medieval feasts. The work honors the unpaid and overworked laborers historically integral to sugar production. We spoke to Creative Time Director Anne Pasternak and Kenyan poet Shailja Patel about this transformative project.

Sound Editor: Kris McConnachie | Photos: Amy Sherald and Cathy Byrd, as captioned | Special Feature: Images by Ricardo Cortés, The Act of Whitening, 2014. Commissioned for Creative Time Reports Subtlety Series.