Examining sugar using slow looking

This activity has been inspired by the theory of ‘slow looking’ which is most commonly used in museums and art galleries to support visitors to engage with pieces of art more meaningfully. The Tate Museum offers some very helpful top tips on how to facilitate and encourage slow looking.

The six images in this activity have been specifically selected to represent the numerous ways in which sugar is consumed and used and how different sugar can look depending on its usage and purpose.

This is the first activity in a series of resources designed around sugar. See the others below:

• The origins of sugar
• Sugar’s history within the transatlantic slave trade
• Sugar and art through time and across cultures
• Sugar tax: where health and politics meet

SHAPE is a collective name for social sciences, humanities and the arts. SHAPE subjects play a vital role within our communities and in shaping our lives – past, present and future. SHAPE skills give us the tools to enact change and allow us to better understand the world by providing a myriad of ways to express, analyse and interpret our global world and human experiences.

For more information about the underpinning principles of the resources, visit our website.