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UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 8 APRIL, 2018
Cultural Insurance
B Y O O N Y A K E M P A D O O
CAMPUS NEWS
Insurance is an
ancient practice
that dates back to
early human society
a n d mo n e t a r y
e c onomi e s . It
wa s d e v e l op e d
t o r e s p o n d t o
mone t a r y r i s k s
a n d p r a c t i s e d
by Chines e and
Babylonian traders
a s l ong a go a s
the 3rd and 2nd
millennia BC, (as
written about by
Vaughan, E. J., 1997,
Risk Management
, New York: Wiley.)
Merchants would pay an extra sum for their loan to be
cancelled should their shipment be lost or stolen at sea. One
of the most famous examples of this is Lloyd’s of London
with its list of
“Names”
or underwriters, who determine
the risk of a potential client and the cost of that risk to the
client. The notion of putting away a little, each month, each
year, for yourself or giving it to an insurance company in
the form of a premium for when you most need it and for
emergencies, is one way of making the unknown future as
secure as possible.
Storytelling is woven into the development and survival
of our societies and is part of our coping mechanism as
humans, given the unknown future we face. As a result,
stories and other art forms can be viewed collectively
as cultural artifacts. In this way they can then be seen
as “cultural insurance,” which means that they are able
to provide comfort, relief and hope during periods of
bankruptcy, upheaval, strife and loss. Regardless of whatever
form, be it books, music, art, film, or television – the
collection and documentation of cultural artifacts is the
legacy and security of a people.
A hurricane blows away crops and housing. A
flood washes away more than just buildings and streets.
A fire leaves only ash traces of lived lives. Violence robs
individuals of peace of mind and the ability to breathe
deeply. The loss of a loved one darkens the light. So just
as financial insurance helps individuals or companies get
back on their feet, cultural insurance, in the form of words
or images, potentially offers the same relief to a society
and its members. If we are sick we need healing. If we are
scared we seek comfort. In a crisis or emergency, cultural
insurance can be there for us, giving back our integrity and
self-confidence.
In this way, isn’t it then possible to consider stories or
art as value-added insurance? This is done by individual
purchase and through private collection but how is it
capitalized on for members of the public
in need
? How can
museums serve as insurance companies for disadvantaged
or compromised populations? Is a library a bank, gathering
and lending our currency back to us? Can archives become
disseminators and not just curators or gatekeepers? How do
all of these institutions respond to risks and emergencies?
How can rich collections of cultural artifacts be used as
payback, where and when most needed, and how is it re-
distributed? How do community members access their
cultural insurance?
These questions are meant to both stimulate and
challenge all of the stakeholders in this enterprise we call
society, particularly those involved in the collection and
distribution of our precious cultural artifacts. In other
words, this is a call to stakeholders to identify specific ways
in which collections of cultural artifacts can be used as
cultural insurance. That these artifacts might be thought of
as security and used for reassurance, in itself can be a way
of insuring their social relevance.
The Department of Literary, Cultural and Communication Studies wound up the Campus Literature Week with its Gala ceremony on March 23,
where the Writer-in-Residence,
Oonya Kempadoo
, gave a reading which she called:
Loyalties, Inspiration and Transition: writing between islands.
Kempadoo introduced a concept she called Cultural Insurance. Here is her synopsis of it.
The Alma Jordan Library
has just ended a small exhibition of some
of Jackie Hinkson’s work, featuring pieces from his Christ in Trinidad
Series.
Sammarko Lightbourne, who is working on the Master of Fine
Arts programme, is currently an intern at the West Indiana and Special
Collections section, prepared this synopsis, which accompanied the
pieces on display.
In 2004, Jackie Hinkson produced a cathartic and engaging series
of paintings called,
The Christ in Trinidad Series
, a collection of 14
large paintings depicting various biblical scenes surrounding the life
of Jesus Christ.
Ever conscious and concerned about the declining conditions
within Trinidadian society, Hinkson uses his canvas as an instrument
of moral discourse, social engagement, and to capture snapshots of
the human experience bothmundane and remarkable. While casually
surveying the walls of a church one day, the prolific water-colourist
was struck by their vacuity. The empty spaces were like a siren’s song
compelling him to produce work fitting for display. Embedded in local
context,
The Christ in Trinidad
captures the light, warmth, and space
of the region, whose prominent Christ figure allows Trinidadians to
evaluate how they see themselves.
The exhibition also featured work by Hinkson scholars and
collaborators, ranging from a PhD thesis to children’s literature
illustrated by the artist.
“Entering Town”
and
“Kentucky Surprise.”
Artist’s Statement:
It was only after I started painting this series that I realized I had been thinking about it for a long time. I was
looking at my society and becoming more concerned about the deterioration in the quality of life. I was agonizing over it. Then
something happened. I was in a church one Sunday and it struck me that often in Europe there are large murals and paintings on
the interior walls of churches, but here was an obvious absence. I mentioned this to the priest who happened to be a liberal thinker.
He asked me if I wanted to do paintings for the church and I immediately said yes. Here was an opportunity to express what I was
feeling about the society, but I realized that if the paintings were going to be placed in a church then they would have to relate to
the religion practiced in the church, a Christian one. My solution was to take stories from the life of Christ and reinterpret them in
a local societal context. On the surface the paintings would connect with the relevant religion but in reality, they would reflect my
feelings about the state of my society. The paintings were begun around 2001 and were ‘completed’ in about 3 years. I still go back to
them and have made a few changes and improvements, but not major compositional ones.
Christ in Trinidad
