museum to preserve Region’s heritage needed
The region’s artists see an urgent need for a sustained approach to support the visual arts, saying that its development has long been greatly undervalued.
The call for less talk and more action came from participants at the Carifesta X Visual Arts Symposium, ‘Mekkin Change: Art and Artists in the Evolution of the Caribbean’, which was held yesterday at the National Convention Centre, at Lilien-daal. A small group of participants who attended the panel discussion did not reach any clear-cut solution, though it was agreed that it is necessary to immediately pool resources towards the establishment of a regional museum and gallery in order to preserve the region’s cultural heritage, while promoting a continuous dialogue on the arts. There was also support for organising travelling exhibitions to foster greater understanding and appreciation for the region’s art, as well as a call for re-examining how to best events like Carifesta can serve the cause.
Although the theme of the symposium situates Carib-bean artists as makers of change, a common concern raised among the panellists and participants was the lack of any significant institutional interest in the arts, a situation for which a multiplicity of reasons were given, including a failure within the region’s education systems. During his presentation, Trinidadian artist Makemba Kunle noted that the role of artists has become suspect as makers of change. “Our impact on society is less and less obvious,” he said, adding, “We are a pretty powerless bunch.”
Bahamian artist John Cox, another panellist, took the view that artists hold a paradoxical place in the region, where they are both included and excluded. At the moment, Cox said, there is a boom in the arts in the island, though he added that artists are still struggling to find validation-an issue that resonated with many of the participants.
According to Natalie Coleman of the Cayman Islands, in the face of the threat posed by globalisation the region needs to take responsibility for defining its identity on its own terms, and as part of this effort to create a forum for validation. She asked the participants to put their minds to the question of who was responsible for framing the notion of the region’s identity, adding that in the absence of a local idea there is the danger that artists would compromise their unique visions, chasing current trends in order to gain international recognition and approval. Coleman also identified the problem of preserving heritage among an ever-increasing plurality within the region, saying the identity crisis is a major challenge for the arts. The prickly issue of the meaning of “Caribbean identity” was also raised and interjected the yet to be settled debate into discussion. (For example, one Bahamian artist who felt that art in the region has been treated as peripheral said he did not want to simply view himself as Caribbean artist.)
Kunle said it was important not to ignore the changing climate that threatens local culture, though he decried the fact that governments have ignored or undervalued the potential of activities like carnival for art education. Instead, he said, there has been an emphasis on marketing it for tourists. “I am not painting for no outside market,” he declared. Kunle floated the idea of a moving exhibition as one way of generating and maintaining interest, an idea taken up by Trinidadian multimedia artist, Rubadiri Victor, one of more outspoken participants, who drew attention to the continuing loss of cultural memory, citing specifically the recent deaths of artists who helped shape the region’s golden age of art. He said the disappearing cultural memory impresses upon the region an urgent duty to document and preserve its past. Expanding on Kunle’s proposal, he urged that artists use Carifesta X to make a declaration of the need for a Caribbean museum and gallery. “They are also places of validation, where we can construct our own hierarchies and canons,” he said. He hoped that there could be declaration in this regard by the end of the festival.
Victor found a supporter in the Curator of the Guyana’s National Art Gallery, Elfrieda Bissember, who emphasised the need to build to institutions to support the arts. She criticised the focus on events, with little or no follow up afterward. In this vein, the idea of taking a more process driven approach found favour, although some participants felt that events like Carifesta and other major regional festivals could be useful, once they are divorced from institutions that have so far been ignoring the arts. “We need to emancipate the Carifesta from the governments,” Victor said, adding that St Lucian Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott was right when he said the regional institutions have not been taking artists seriously. “They have a stake in keeping us impoverished and we come and celebrate it every two years.”
Dr Vibert Cambridge said the discourse on cultural memory would need to include members of the Diaspora. He urged a strategy of harmonisation, in this regard. Cambridge also pointed to the need to make better use of new technological platforms, in order to ensure that the efforts have the widest reach.
