Tara Long's new installation *La Esquinita (little corner)* has taken over all three spaces at Locust Projects in Miami, transforming the gallery into a shop for sweets and souvenirs with over 500 miniature sculptures for sale. The immersive environment, her first major solo show, unfolds in three acts—seduction, exposure, and collapse—centered on a crumbling room-sized frosted cake. The exhibition draws parallels between Florida's early 20th-century Big Sugar land grab and today's Big Tech boom, reflecting on cycles of extraction and survival in Long's hometown. A pop-up speakeasy will run on Friday and Saturday nights (5 and 6 December).
The exhibition matters because it uses sugar as a metaphor for addiction, decay, and Miami's identity built on fantasy and reinvention. Long connects personal history—her mother's death and her own pregnancy cravings—to broader critiques of progress, displacement, and the roles of victim and oppressor. By creating a space that seduces then asks hard questions, the show challenges viewers to confront the costs of Miami's boom cycles, making it a timely commentary on urban development and cultural memory in a rapidly changing city.