About - Sacks

This work centred on sacks marked with “EFC” and a triangle motif, signifying the European Food Aid Programme of the 1990s. The initiative distributed surplus agricultural products to regions in crisis across Europe. “EFC” refers to the European Food Corporation, and the triangle symbol indicates the source and quality of the aid.

I found these sacks while skip diving for art materials in the East End of London and stored them for some time before using them. Working with them, I explored questions of aid, politics, and transformation. Sealing wax was applied to all seams and openings, an action that referenced attempts to control and secure aid, while also exposing the fragility and tension inherent in such systems.

The work culminated in a ritual action where the sacks were set on fire in a field and completely destroyed. The burning functioned as a symbolic act, responding to the political controversy and public debate surrounding the programme. Legal challenges, budget cuts, and disagreements over the role of European social policy eventually led to its replacement by the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived in 2014.

The work exists through the act itself and through memory, rather than as a surviving object. It reflects on the complexities of humanitarian aid and the difficulty of sustaining care within shifting political and economic frameworks.

Linda Sgoluppi Art