What can be done to improve the environment for visual artists in Guyana? It seems that even when we are brought into rooms before people who purport to want to help us, they are not willing to listen to us. It also seems that support for art and artists matter only when there can be a favourable demonstration of income over expenditure or the furtherance of a particular personal or politicised agenda. But the quiet delight of having a memory triggered about a once joyful time, or the realisation of the intrinsic beauty in the surroundings of our every day is not easily translated into numbers. Similarly, the provocation of a fantastical thought or a line of contemplative considerations and internal inquiries are not easily quantifiable with numbers on a spreadsheet.
I think of unfortunate recent developments. Exhibitions are hosted at our National Gallery of Art (NGA) Castellani House (in the world’s fastest-growing economy) with no exhibition booklets. This is a contraction of pre-oil circumstances and not development! Case in point #1: Recently, a senior artist hosted an exhibition of over four dozen works spanning years of approaches there at the NGA. Despite the obvious amount of time, energy, and resources invested in making the work and even shipping some here to Guyana, he could not be supported with an exhibition booklet. Instead, the pages that should have been within one, were printed in large format and unsatisfactorily displayed. Visitors could not walk away with something to read and consider which could enhance their understanding of the artist and his works.