Dear Editor,
Peter Vieira, one of Guyana’s outstanding Leather artists died at his home in Sophia some weeks back. His body was discovered badly decomposed. Peter was diabetic. He as well as several other senior Guyanese artists have died due to a lack of proper medical treatment.
As General Secretary of the Guyana United Artists I have written a number of letters to the media houses as to the shabby treatment and neglect for our senior artists who have given their golden years in service to our country. When I returned to Guyana in the late seventies I met Peter Vieira. In the seventies and eighties Peter had one-man shows at the Guyana National Museum and the Pegasus Hotel.
In the aftermath of CARIFESTA Guyana saw for almost two decades cultural renaissance that came to an end when the PPP assumed government in 1992. The Guyana United Artists came to the rescue of artists from 1997 until 2019. Our last exhibition in Main Street, Georgetown, was the last.
The Covid shut down for over two years and the return of the PPP to government in 2020 brought an end to the organization of Guyanese artists, many of whom were in their senior years. The Ministry of Culture with billions of dollars had no empathy with the small artists’ community. In fact, the new Minister never met with the Guyanese artists, he created a group made up of party loyalists and gave out millions to them, a grave injustice to the artists who had represented Guyana in the diaspora and at home.
While the PPP continues to blame the PNC for its many failures the fact remains that the PPP is not a people oriented party. Many of our artists have departed for the diaspora. Those who remained, many have gone to their graves among whom are some of our talented Omowalle Lumumba, Winston Strick, Osaze, Bermi, Frances Ferreira, Basil Thompson, Samuels…died in abject poverty under the PPP government.
Under the Department of Culture in which Ms. Lynette Dolphin was the Chair-man and Dr. Denis Williams Director of Art, most of the artwork that forms the treasury of Guyanese Visual Arts Collection were acquired. Among which were prize winning pieces of the National Visual Arts Competition that were purchased and the Department continued to support the work of winners of the National Visual Arts Competition. When the PPP came to government all this came to an end. The only thing that the PPP did was to use what was referred to as the RESIDENCE to house what has since been called the National Collection and the location the National Gallery Castellani House.
The PPP were deliberate in their actions in more ways, as a Stalinist party, they never appreciated the role of the artists and their contributions to the enrichment of our history and cultural development. Attaining the seat of government in the aftermath of the collapse of International Communism, with little knowledge of how to administrate a country, they became avaricious, seeing Guyana as their private property. They have no empathy with the Guyanese nation, with absolutely no commitment to nation building.
Sincerely,
Desmond Alli
Architect of the National Unity
Monument