Chocolate brings happiness/interactive installation/4m x 2m/2015

The atrocities behind the production of a simple chocolate bar are often overlooked. Human trafficking, child slavery, and abusive labor practices are all rampant in the cocoa industry, yet few consumers are aware of these realities.

According to an investigative report by the BBC, “hundreds of thousands of children are purchased from their parents or outright stolen, then shipped to the Ivory Coast, where they are enslaved on cocoa farms.” Families are promised honest work and adequate income for their children, but in reality, children as young as 11—and sometimes younger—are forced to work 80 to 100 hours per week. They are denied education, fair wages, and proper nutrition, and are frequently subjected to physical abuse. Tragically, many children never return to their families.

Meanwhile, chocolate itself triggers the release of endorphins in the brain, chemicals that make us feel pleasure—creating a bitter contrast between the sweetness we consume and the suffering behind it.