By Andre Haynes
Betsy Karim likes to say that she hasn’t pursued art seriously, though if her work is anything to go by you could say art has been pursuing her seriously. “I have never pushed,” she says, explaining her art career, or, rather, the lack thereof. “I don’t do it for money; I do it because it is inside me.”
Karim, 53, is a seamstress. She is also a gifted artist and among a select group whose work will be featured during signal exhibitions that will be held during CARIFESTA X. The signal exhibitions that will be staged will feature outstanding artists and unique art forms of the region. Karim’s work will be featured under the theme “The Beating Heart,” a reference to one of her paintings, “The Beating Heart of Islam,” which will be on display.
She has kept working and she has quietly built her reputation through exhibitions over the years, and a number of her pieces have been purchased for the national collection. But CARIFESTA will be her first major showing and one in which her work will be held up alongside some of the region’s most distinguished artists, including one of her influences, countryman Phillip Moore. While she feels honoured by the recognition, however, she is not fussy about it. In fact, she admits she almost did not participate because of her discomfort with the competitive nature of art exhibitions, Karim decided to put her works on display as part of the larger and important goal to showcase the region’s art as a cultural inheritance. And certainly, her work is distinct-a fact that she immediately acknowledges without any trace of ego.
She was born into a family of craftsmen, but Karim is self-taught and for more than half her lifetime, she has been working in several mediums, including painting and fabric design.
And from the beginning, she has been gravitating away from the beaten track. Her early work includes enamel on glass paintings, although now she does a lot of work in acrylics. Karim is a student of history and she has parlayed her vast knowledge of ancient cultures and religion into her work.
Her latest collection, a-series-in-progress titled “Gaiety,” is a historical survey of world civilizations, including Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, in battle and in dance. Each piece features groups of traditionally costumed figures arranged in ceremonial poses, framed by intricately patterned designs that Karim describes as a framework for unification in her work. The scenes are brought to life by the rich palette of colours she has used. “It is like looking through a window,” she explains. “It is like looking back into the past.” The meticulously detailed collection is an ambitious undertaking, for which Karim has done a lot of research in the hopes of featuring 100 completed pieces. What it all suggests are the common threads that run through the narrative of human history and the fact that despite geography we are more alike than we think – a lesson, you might say, that the region is yet to fully embrace.
