Renee Bevan explores issues of desire and romance through her series of chocolate-inspired alternative material brooches.

"This series is an exploration of desire and the myths that surround love, romance, and the gift. Here I explore the role of the gift as signifier of mythic promise. Often gifts symbolize hope or desire through the act of giving and receiving. This hope is that the qualities of these gifts or objects will come to symbolize or transpire on those they are for or that which they represent. The rose, embedded and preserved in its toxic resin bed, the empty resin chocolates, the nipple-like forms and the candle, all suggest the unattainable nature of myth; it is fake. Some preserve nothing, referring to Jacques Lacan's theories on desire; these objects have no substance, they can never fulfil, therefore are empty. The rose scented candle, referencing the short-lived nature of romance and the volatile nature of love, sits like a bomb awaiting ignition. Such objects only highlight our quest for satisfaction, embedding us in the myth and desire for romance and eternity."

This installation was part of a series of window displays called ChocolateBox.