I remain distracted by the knowledge that select visual artists were called into a meeting with the high-level official in December. Reality is, I am skeptical whenever visual artists and other creatives have meetings with high-level officials of any government, individually or collectively. Artists almost always need what these officials appear to have – the funds to support the realisation of their grand dreams, and artists and creatives often are capable of helping these officials sell their grand schemes. In the grander scheme of things, we can make a fairly accurate guess of who loses and who does not.
Creatives in Guyana need support and that is a given. We need support to grow our skills, to fund ideas that surpass the limits of self-funding, and for livelihoods that are focused on creating. But in turn, we need to push the envelope. We cannot settle into self-satisfaction. We cannot be so impressed with our own effort as to not push the envelope the next time and the next time. A bit crazy I suppose what I’m suggesting but I do so because I see that kind of self-satisfied attitude around me. In my humble opinion, this is how we as individual artists will grow and in turn, our community.
I feel like older folk, always with a recollection and I have one to share now. I recall a certain very talented young artist who had made some beautiful work. I am not easily impressed and I really liked the work. Alas, I was not the only one. A certain prominent professional who collects art acquired work from the young artist. I was happy for both. But years later, my excitement for the youngster waned when I noticed he had not managed to surpass this lovely work. I love that he had received support despite the weak art market but that the fuel ran out on him. And I suspect he mistook the financial fuel as an excuse to be satisfied and not push his envelope.
More than anything, we in Guyana need a mechanism for our artists to gain from residencies. It would be wonderful if the very high-level official who met with artists and other creatives would establish a perpetual fund for our artists and other creatives to tap into to engage in residencies through a competitive and non-partisan process. While some of these residency opportunities are fully funded, others are partially funded by the host organisation, and some are entirely self-funded by the participants. Clearly, the more funded the residency is the more competitive it is to enter. But residencies are fantastic spaces to allow artists to focus on their practice, experiment, and develop new ideas often in dialogue with other artists on the residency with them. Residencies are places for artists to push the envelope. They are places to be distracted at length from one’s norms and to be immersed in spaces that support the exploration and development of one’s practice.
If you are doubtful of the merits of these, consider the following. There is a certain sculptor who benefitted immensely from an 11-month residency in a far-off land. His was the Commonwealth Arts and Crafts Award. Out of that experience, he was able to shatter the material limits of his work. Around the same time that the sculptor was granted his award, so was a certain lawyer-turned-clothing/soft furnishings and jewelry designer. (I hope to share a conversation with her shortly.) This lawyer/photographer/former gallerist/all-round artsy person took up her award with her creative partner and began pairing jewelry with eco-activism.
Perhaps, I am too much of an idealist but I see no reason why we in Guyana could not/cannot have artist residencies established here. The National Gallery of Art could play an integral part and before a certain building was erected in proximity to it, the space was there for an edifice that could allow for the infrastructure to support an international residency. Nonetheless, things can still happen, as we say. This ‘thing’ that I am referring to doesn’t need to be a kind of money pit. Subsidise qualifying local artists and charge the international ones, in a nutshell. There is enough about Guyana to interest foreign artists to want to work in this space.
Again, another story. When I was in art school, a youngster from an art school in Scotland joined us for a term. It might have been longer if a certain character attached to the school then didn’t run him off. I forgot what drew the Scotsman to Guyana but I have a vague recollection that it was the aesthetic brilliance of one of our Guyanese artists residing in the UK. Someone whose name was little known to me at the time.
When artists meet high-level officials, artists find much to complain about. I find it boring! Perhaps this is why they tune us out. Nonetheless, there seems to be enough private sector money moving around to support artists in this regard too. Imagine the clout associated with such a product, if done well. But alas, regardless of who funds locally based residencies or participation in regional and international residencies, artists need autonomy to work as they wish. They don’t need slogans and mottos to which they must align their work.
Guyanese artists need to not feel the subtle pressures to limit the concerns of their work, as has been the perennial case. The market dictates it. Landscapes and flora and fauna, evocations of
ancestral memory and nostalgia pieces seem to rule the day. The resuscitated visual art biennial competition which was postponed in 2021 in part because of COVID closures needs to, as we say colloquially, free things up. Allow for formal and intellectual experimentation. Respect it. Embrace it. Court it. The days when a painting was a rectangular framed thing on a wall are no more. In the absence of artist residencies, this particular venture funded by taxpayer dollars and organised by a few art sympathisers, can go a long way if it wishes to. So, until our visual artists can be supported in experimentation through whatever means, I’m afraid that recouping the cost of paint and brushes, wood and chisels, etc will define things more than it should.
Akima McPherson is a multimedia artist, art historian, and educator
