SUNDAY 6 MAY, 2018 – UWI TODAY
15
ARTS
UWI’s final-year Visual Arts students
added a flair for the
contemporary to the Trinidad andTobagoNationalMuseum
andArt Gallery this April.With its largely conceptual theme,
the Department of Creative and Festival Arts’ 2018 Degree
Student Exhibition, served as both complement and contrast
to its venue.
Home to relics from our country’s rich history, the
National Museum holds objects time-weathered but
tangible, and the atmosphere inside the Victorian-era
building, with its narrow corridors, dim lighting and
wood floors, immerses visitors in the journey through our
nation’s past. Enter the DCFA’s exhibition, however, and the
museum’s rustic environment gives way to light and space.
The room’s high ceiling and white walls make it feel open
and the art is well-spaced, giving each piece its deserved
attention.
Unlike the museum’s artefacts, protected behind glass
cases, preserved for essential historical and cultural record,
the DCFA students’ art pieces are exposed to engage the
senses and encourage interaction. Rather than represent
fact, they’re meant to share the artist’s experience and to
invite the viewer’s interpretation.
RainyDays, Ordeals
and
Redemption
B Y S E R A H A C H A M
Curtis Thomas’ resin and lace sculpture: “Undone.”
on their surfaces and slowly dripping water into containers
filled with red and yellow liquids, coloured to represent
bodily fluids, she renders palpable the physical pain of the
ailing and the emotional pain of those closest to them.
Cultural gender stereotypes and body image issues
were investigated in Anthony Jaboolal’s photographic series,
“Bare,” which depicted shots of his own henna-painted body.
The close-up images, zooming-in tightly on each body part,
and the reflective effect of black and white photography,
conjured a deep sense of intimacy, giving the audience
an exclusive view into the highly personal struggle with
insecurity.
Design student, Kadine Antoine, approached the
all-too prevalent human obsession with appearance, by
illuminating the eating disorders and self-harm practiced
by many young girls. Covered in happy shades of pink
and calming blues, with hand-painted images of open-
winged dragonflies and butterflies, and hand-written
messages of inspiration throughout its pages, her journal,
the “Battimamzelle Activity Book,” offered a creative outlet
through which sufferers could channel their emotions and
eliminate destructive behaviour.
Yet, these students’ works of art are an apt
accompaniment to the history that lies in our museum.
Continuing our country’s story, they share experiences of
the modern world, from the emotions attached to abuse and
mental illness, to the practical needs for proper facilities in
public spaces and a serious solution to our crime problem.
Keith Cadette, Lecturer and Coordinator of the DCFA’s
Visual Arts programme, explains that in creating their pieces
for this exhibition, students were “given the opportunity to
explore beyond the traditional.” He explains that visitors to
the exhibition would not have found “the typical paintings,
drawings [and] sculptures that one would normally associate
with a local fine art exhibition.” Instead, the artists explore
different experiences, using different media.
A walk around the gallery shows a variety of media
(sculpture, assemblage, weaving, photographic and graphic,
for example), created using amultitude of different materials
(from red sand, wood and glass, to soap and fabric) that
invite reflection.
Elements of the dark and macabre arose as artists
tackled issues of mental and physical illness. CurtisThomas’
resin and lace sculpture, aptly titled “Undone,” illustrated
the fragility of the human psyche in the face of depression.
Cheryl Wight’s “Redemption,” a large, flowing, tangle of
bright red cloth and thread, went further, inviting the viewer
to walk through the 12-foot high, 63-foot wide mass. The
inability to see clearly through the fabric from either side
is meant to depict the isolation and confusion of dementia,
as well as the distress of a caregiver.
Sade O’Brien’s “Daddy,” offered its audience a similarly
affecting experience of caring for a dying loved one. With
bags of ice suspended in mid-air, condensation forming
Brent Bristol’s graphic novel, titled “Ordeal,” was his
artistic attempt to raise awareness of crime. With its clean
lines and attractive colours, the comic quickly attracted the
eye. Its superhero theme and locally-inspired characters –
with different skin tones and hair textures, names like “Che”
and “Anton,” and dialogue that could only be uttered by a
Trinbagonian – seemed designed to give our youth (or any
comic book lover) their own superheroes to look up to.
Rainy-day clothing, a chair for DCFA students, a short
animated film, and various explorations of nature, religion,
illusion, sound, smell and texture … the DCFA’s final-year
student art exhibition was filled with artistic pieces, too
many to describe, but each unique and impactful.
Sade O’Brien’s “Daddy.”
Cheryl Wight’s “Redemption,” a 12-foot high, 63-foot wide mass.
Anthony Jaboolal’s photographic series, “Bare,”
his henna-painted body.
A walk around the gallery shows a variety of media
(sculpture, assemblage, weaving, photographic and graphic, for example), created using a multitude
of different materials (from red sand, wood and glass, to soap and fabric) that invite reflection.
