Sweet Futures is a project by artist Sarah Browne, which uses the format of a glossy brochure to intersect several ideas - land-use, consumption, happiness, and locality - around the axis of the sugar industry both in Carlow and internationally.

Commissioned by Visualise Carlow as part of their advance programme to the opening of VISUAL (Centre for Contemporary Art), and curated by Ciarán Walsh, the publication is the end-point of a year's research by the artist and draws on a range of contributors to consider elusive notions of happiness and stability, and to illustrate the economic, social and historical forces that continue to blur the boundaries between the local and the global.

Addressing the convoluted workings of the international sugar industry (as seen from Carlow) has generated a wealth of fascinating conversations and anecdotes, and a number of surprising discoveries. The project aims not to memorialise or glorify the sugar industry - though its memory is inevitably tinged with nostalgia in places - but rather to address the changing functions of land use more generally at a local, national and international level. Sweet Futures brings together a diverse group of voices to create a marker in time and a point of reflection.

The 36-page colour publication was launched and distributed free on the 16th and 17th of June in Fairgreen Shopping Centre, Carlow
(Click here for images of the event)

It now available from selected locations nationally and to download as a PDF from this website. Click the icons on the right for more information.