#sexypink/The Procession

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SEXYPINK INTERVIEW - JAMAICAN SCULPTOR -LAURA FACEY

In Laura's own words she recalls for Sexypink some of her feelings about making the monument.

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The Naked REDEMPTION SONG Monument

While conceptualizing the design for the monument in 2002, I struggled over the idea of ‘draping’ my figures. In the end I decided it would ‘date’ the work…thinking, being naked would be more timeless.

After the initial shock of Jamaica’s ferocious response to the unveiled monument, I retreated to my own world to ‘wait out’ the outcome. I realized everyone was entitled to their own opinion. Eighteen years after the installation, Maroon Elder Joseph White, explained to me what the monument meant to him and to Jamaica’s history.

“On Emancipation Day, 1st August, 1838, some plantation owners gave another humiliating indignation to their soon to be freed enslaved — they stripped them of their clothing! —‘Bakra seh, uno free but yu clothes no free’. The naked free who took to the roads were arrested for indecent exposure. Their previous owners would be the ones able to release them. The bolder free took to the rivers with the only thing they had left, their modesty and the fact that if accused of being naked they could claim they were bathing.

Rivers symbolically washed away the horror of their lives (the reason the Emancipation figures stand in a pool of flowing water) and shielded them until they arrived at a safer place (rivers follow roads), to, in theory, begin a new life”.  After the unveiling, yes, I was in shock for the first weeks then I was in awe of this ferocious debate for and against the naked figures, which played out for months.

Truthfully, I did question my decision for making them naked but now, 20 plus years later, I ‘give it up’, rightly or wrongly, as inspiration passing through me!

Laura Facey

a reflection on Laura Facey's Redemption Song...

Sexypink - So often when visualizing a work, you never know why you may get a strong hunch or follow a need to add specific symbolism. As I read Laura Facey's recollections on the creation of the monumental Redemption Song in Jamaica, I was particularly struck by the Maroon Elders' words about nakedness at the moment of Emancipation and thereafter.

I believe that works like Ms Facey's endure because it must. The reaction to the nudity by so many during the unveiling questions how far we have come in regard to slavery itself. It is still debated whether we can put it behind us. It also begs the question of what is freedom itself?

The slave is always reminded of the price it costs to be present. Imagine that the only solace for being stripped of one's dignity repeatedly was to give the impression of bathing as a passive choice. Ms Facey was correct in her instincts about the bare skin, her Adam and Eve, heads held high in the Jamaican hot sun answer the call to their freedom and beyond.

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Sexypink - A gathering/conversation instigated by Christopher Cozier. “…In Trinidad, the art encounter and or transaction often seems to exist outside of historical trajectories with a fake and mysterious notion of universal standards or quality - can we question or just accept this?” Cozier Based on conversations which took place at Alice Yard over the last year, Christopher Cozier, rather than having a “one man” exhibition, invites artists Amir Denzel Hall, Bianca Peake, Elechi Todd and Khaffi Beckles, to open the conversation; to think about the meaning of making and process within and from our geographic location. Why Now? is an assembly of ways of working and ideas. Asking about collaboration, our art market space, local art history, how and why work is viewed and consumed. What are the degrees of consonance and dissonance? Why associate? Why share space? Why make art here? And Why Now?

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Sexypink -

Medulla Art Gallery is pleased to invite you to

"EDEN" BY STUART HAHN

OPENING RECEPTION:

Date: Thursday 27th July 2023

Time: 7pm - 9pm

Venue: Medulla Art Gallery

Address: #37 Fitt Street, Woodbrook, Port of Spain.

For more information please contact:

Telephone: +1(868)680-1041, +1(868)622-1196

Email: medullaartgallery@gmail.com

Artist’s Talk: Thursday 10th August, 2023 at 7pm-9pm

Exhibition continues until: Tuesday 29th August, 2023

FREE ADMISSION - OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Gallery hours: Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 11am-2pm

ABOUT THE SHOW:

The story of Eden has intrigued me since childhood and this exhibition is one of the results of that, undertaken with the greatest reverence to the countless great artists who have indulged in the very same obsession over time immemorial. Philosophically I’ve come away from it with more questions than answers, especially about the god it features, the strange and disturbing notion and concept of Original Sin, what really is this thing called evil… etc etc. How closely it resembles so many other creation stories, and how it also differs from them. The cherubim obviously impressed me, though I could not bring myself to depict them as the monstrous physically deformed creatures described elsewhere.. The sad, blood-soaked story of the first murder, for me, needs much more explanation than its given. The choice of the snake as the embodiment of evil, handmade of Satan… why? Poor womankind, the bringer of the species, its very womb, so demonized… how come, why? This exhibition is the edited version of these ruminations, perhaps there will be another to complete the process, if time allows. There are also two drawings here from another ongoing series, Dante’s Divine Comedy, of the pathetic plight of Paulo and Francesca, also, hopefully, another exhibition.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Stuart Hahn was born in Nevis in 1949 and was educated in Barbados and Trinidad to A level. He began his artistic career in commercial-advertising art before leaving that discipline to become a full time fine artist in his homeland, Trinidad. His exhibition career began in 1984 in Port of Spain, since then he has exhibited internationally, to the present day. He has illustrated local folklore and universal myths and legends, predominantly Greek and Judeo-Christian. His influences have been the Pre-Raphaelites, Symbolists, Art Nouveau, and early 20th century book illustration, the great Alf Codallo and the beauty of the people and landscape of his island home.

Graphic Design: Agyei Archer

Follow @medullaartgallery on Facebook and Instagram

If you wish to subscribe to our invitation list kindly email: medullaartgallery@gmail.com

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SEXYPINK - I missed this wonderful presentation in 2022. Thus I look forward to Crick Crack in 2023.

From the Facebook page of Crick Crack Traditional and Folklore Band  (2022) Sunday at the Coco dance festival a traditional mas character Babydoll decided to take the stage and bring the performance out of the carnival..I've learned alot in this process and will continue my journey in "becoming" you don't choose the mas it choose you! Special thanks to cocc family for allowing me to keep this thing we call art alive. The Uncanny doll

All photos are copyright by Maria Nunes

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Sexypink - “The first installation of the Central Bank of Barbados Crop Over Visual Arts 2023 three part exhibition - We Came on Merchant Ships will end this Thursday.Produced by the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) the exhibition has been on display at the Queen’s Park Gallery since late May and takes viewers on a trip across the Atlantic to explore the movements of trade and people and delve into the often unspoken histories that have shaped the world today.Curated to portray the dynamic movements of people and the complex reasons behind them, this exhibition promises to transcend the traditional modalities of historical representation.

 It delves into the intricate tapestry of migration, trade, and human resilience that have birthed our vibrant Caribbean culture.Renowned artist, Shane Eastmond, known for his deeply evocative work, anchors the exhibition with his piece Black and White. This stirring masterpiece draws inspiration from a photo taken by Kyle Babb of Eastmond’s childhood friend, and seeks to contrast history’s documentations.“Black and White focuses on the pain that we have experienced in the past as people and the love we have learnt here in the future,” said Eastmond. 

Another key highlight is the abstract work Betrayed, crafted by the multi-talented forensic scientist-turned-visual artist, Sharon Antoinette. 

This piece presents a heartbreaking story of survival, betrayal, and sacrifice. Two canvases, linked by chains, and layered with keys hidden beneath crosses, evoke the haunting memory of merchant ships crossing the Middle Passage.

The artist recalled that creating Betrayed was a deeply emotional process for her.“It was heart-wrenching,” she exclaimed.

The piece serves as a stark reminder of the profound pain endured by those who crossed the Middle Passage, many of whom were betrayed by their own for survival.The second exhibition, We Came on Merchant Ships – Movement, starts next month and promises to be more than an art exhibition, paying tribute to the strength of our ancestors, and sounding a clarion call to remember and learn from history.” (PR)Barbados Today

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Sexypink - AKUZURU today at The Central Bank Museum.

his is a reminder that you are invited to the launch of Parthenogenesis…… A Maze of Silence within a Roar, a Performance-Installation Solo Exhibition by A k u z u r u

on Thursday, April 18, 2024, at 5:00 p.m.

The event will take the following format:

5:00 p.m. – Live Performance/Procession from the Wrightson Road Waterfront onto the Eric Williams Plaza

6:00 p.m. – Exhibition Launch on the Ground Floor, Central Bank Building

Please see the attached invitation to the launch. The exhibition will be open to the public from Friday, April 19, 2024 and will run until Wednesday, May 8, 2024.

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Sexypink - AKUZURU TODAY!

.....a sToried plume within a weB of beautiful chAos......

.....we were protected in the midst of the mystical MISTS in the verdant mountains....

AlKHEMy of Sound(((((÷÷÷Plant ing DIRT(((( was an intense process . More plummage to follow...

Photos by @studiobryonyella and #akuzuru

Supported by @britishcouncilamericas and @coco_dance_festival 2023

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Sexypink - I am giving insight into a project begun in 2016 and then shelved after three years of intense work with the great Trinidad and Tobago Photographer Richard Acosta. Inner Sanctum:Artists Studio was conceived based on one too many parents believing that their child disappointed them by choosing Art as a degree and a possible career.

Images of Peter Sheppard in his studio in 2016

Inner Sanctum, Artists' Studios is a full colour photo-book which delves into the little known creative process and spaces of fine artists from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It features 20 of Trinidad's most prolific painters who have been exhibiting work for about twenty years. The book has a special focus on the creative spaces of artists whereby no two studios are ever the same. An attempt is made to draw insight into the correlation between an artist's creative space and process to their work.

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Sexypink - TERN is proud to announce our upcoming exhibition, “Evidence of Possibility” by regional artists, Mark King and Rodell Warner.

Barbadian Artist Mark King | Trinidad and Tobago Artist Rodell Warner

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Mark King is a Barbadian interdisciplinary artist working in photography, installation, fashion, and sculpture.

Rodell Warner is a Trinidadian artist working primarily in new media and photography whose works assume various forms in a process of exploration and rediscovery.

Barbadian Artist Mark King

Together, King and Warner present the “evidence of possibility”, pushing each other past the boundaries of their respective practices at the intersection of fine art, research, and technology.

This exhibition features AI-generated images on aluminum, ceramic sculptures, video prints, and textiles

Trinidad and Tobago Artist Rodell Warner

“Evidence of Possibility” will run from September 20th to November 4th, 2023 with an opening reception on Wednesday, September 20th, 2023, from 6 pm - 8 pm.

For more information on this exhibition, email us at info@terngallery.com.

We look forward to celebrating with you then!

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Sexypink - ARTISTS AND THEIR PROCESSES

Jackie Hinkson's drawings in order of dates

Invaders (no date)

Despers, 2023.

All Stars, 2014

Phase II

Mr Hinkson sketching in plein air pan style

T&TEC Power Stars, 2002

Renegades, 1980s

Phase II (no date)

Renegades (no date)

Trinidad and Tobago Artist Jackie Hinkson has had a stellar career as a Painter of scenes of life in the Caribbean. He is arguably the only person whose work can map the ever changing geographies of the islands. Here he is sketching his observations of players enjoying the national instrument on the roadways in August 2023, the year that PAN DAY became internationally official.

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Sexypink - This much needed facelift at the Jean Pierre Sports Complex is deeply appreciated. Read and experience what the Sculptors Sherlann Peters and Maria Diaz had to say about the process.

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Restoring History through Art! Excited to share the incredible collaboration between myself and Maria Diaz as we joined forces to breathe new life into two iconic monuments at the Hansley Crawford Stadium. Witness the magic unfold as we lovingly repaired and restored the magnificent 1992 Carifesta V Monument and the historic 1979 Netball Championship Monument.Witness the magic unfold as we lovingly repaired and restored the magnificent 1992 Carifestav Monument and the historic 1979 Netball Championship Monument.

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Rousing replies | UWI Graduate Exhibition 2023

From Kevin Baldeosingh : Remember: the woke bs infiltrated universities before it started getting people cancelled. It's already in UWI's Gender Dept, Arts, while race ideology has been in the History Dept for decades.

Reply: Martin D. Mouttet (Medulla Gallery Curator) Kevin Baldeosingh Please do not mischaracterize this event. It’s not about "woke b.s" or institutional gender and race politics…. it's simply about mental health and the role of creative expression in nurturing personal health, and how each of these students use their art practice to navigate and process harsh realities like anxiety, trauma, depression etc, and apply these tools for the greater good. That’s it.....All in this feed are welcome to attend.

Kevin Baldeosingh replies: Martin D. Mouttet Then don't use the term "safe space", which has a very specific connotation about censorship.

enter a new reply from a third party...

Vergil Hammer Chattergoon  I hear the term safe space used in forums for free expression without judgement. How do you hear it used?

Sexypink expects to add more to this space....

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Sexypink - Akuzuru - Upcoming Performance

S P O R A MYSTICA

a new environmental performance work

by   A k u z u r u

COMMISSIONED BY : The National Museum and Art Gallery of Trinidad & Tobago -  

Venue : City Of Port Of Spain -Fort San Andres -

In celebration of WORLD ART DAY 2023

Themed : Performance is Art

Artist Proposal  (Posters Attached ) From The Artist

S P O R A MYSTICA is an ode to the purity of existence and the mystically imbued qualities of Spores . This inter galactic experience of the cosmic microscopic unseen suggests an inter-dimensional phenomena within the traversing patterns of Spores . Humans and animals breathe in , literally inhale millions of spores continually .

Each breath carries the essential life force of spores that makes existence a magnificent  intangible happening . Spores are a continuum of new births .

The artist through performative communion with the unseen microscopically powerful S P O R A will be attuned through various gestures and stamps of sound , movement , texture and form as her body / bodies as spore selves navigate the grounds of Fort San Andres , connecting the trees as sentinels with the architectural and mounted historical structures .

As an environmental intervention , this multi-sensorial work will most pointedly engage the surrounding ocean -the water element- which flanks the earth itself becoming an integral core of this exploration .This process as a cumulative effect will transmit the essential vibrations , toward a heightened sense of awareness resulting , in a deeply transformative experience so that a communion of elements and interstitial spaces amplifies the mystical prowess of our spore selves within the whole of S P O R A as an Omnipotent force .

© A k u z u r u  2023

A k u z u r u  Artist Biography

A k u z u r u  is an Avant Garde artist whose practice spans 30 years . She produces through a TransDisciplinary praxis straddling multiple approaches . Her thought provoking works invokes the unseen , where the material and the immaterial are as connectedly interspersed as the immanent and transcendent . Primarily environmental using vast spaces in the natural world and connected into the spatial appropriations of interiors of building spaces , her other- worldly forms in her installations or 'spatial works ' and expansive Performative AkTivations inoculates into the viewer deeply indelible emotive experiences .

The artist has established a multi-faceted lexicon of performative works which include her Ak-tionisms, Spontaneous Art, Spatial Works, Gesture Works, Experiential Art, whether live or on film. With the natural world and metaphysics being central to her process, her immersive complex presentations are expansive , often multi-locational , involving a multitude of persons whom she calls her co-performers, as well as deeply engaging solo expressions.

Having lived, studied and practiced in Trinidad, the UK and Nigeria for many years, her Total Art experiences are conceptually and physically intense - integral - often interak-tive, multi-genre constructions,  emphasizing performance art's radical axis as a dynamic and powerful art form.

This Environmental-Transdisciplinary artist has become known for her multi-genre works and her many performances including her iconic healing chambers and large sculptural-installations consistently presented worldwide at prestigious institutions and powerful natural environments including the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Asia and the United States.

A pioneer in the radical presence-ing of performance art in Trinidad and the Caribbean, her evolvement as an artist during a thirty year practice, has exhibited a steady embrace of performance art as her primary focus in her TransDisciplinary visions, a metaphysically dynamic intersection of the human and natural world; encapsulating the science of space, light, sound, silence , movement, gesture and nuance .

The artist has been the recipient of numerous International awards from the Prince Claus Fund- Netherlands , the City of Munich- Germany and the Commonwealth Foundation- UK .

Significant solo presentations at important institutions include the National Museum of Trinidad & Tobago , PAMM - Perez Art Museum Miami in the US and the Buchheim Museum - Germany .

A k u z u r u  was also Art Lecturer for experimental practice at the University of the West Indies -Trinidad & Tobago during fifteen years.

Her project -Earthology- is an epic ongoing global opus.

© A k u z u r u  2023

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- Sexypink -Peter Doig:Etchings for Derek Walcott - 10 Feb – 29 May 2023 - Gilbert and Ildiko Butler Drawings Gallery

This exhibition presents for for the first time a series of 19 etchings by Peter Doig (born 1959) inspired by the work of his friend, the poet Derek Walcott (1930 – 2017).

Although Doig was born in Scotland and Walcott in Saint Lucia, both spent many years living and working in Trinidad, at different times. 

After first meeting on the island in early 2014 they developed a friendship based on admiration for each other’s work and sharing their different experiences of living in Trinidad and elsewhere.In the last years of his life, Walcott wrote a suite of poems each inspired by one of Doig’s paintings and published as Morning, Paramin in 2016. 

In turn, Doig produced this group of etchings responding to the poems. They cover a range of subjects, from a portrait of Walcott painting to Trinidadian and Alpine themes, as well as images relating to their shared interest in the Impressionist artist Camille Pissarro (born on the Caribbean island of Saint Thomas).

Camille Pissaro - Cove with sailboat 1856

For Doig, printmaking is an integral part of his artistic life: his prints and his paintings often work in dialogue with one another. By showcasing this vital aspect of his practice, visitors will be able to explore the full span of Doig’s creative process.

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Sexypink NEWS - Barbados celebrated Errol Barrow day yesterday. Sexypink just found an insightful article from the Barbados Museum on the preparation and care for their historic monuments. It is so satisfying to see Barbadian’s love of their culture and heritage.  We can all learn from their love and appreciation of their own.

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Here is a small excerpt from the process of Getting Barrow Ready for his Day! 

Part three: Before, After & next steps

Barrow is ready to welcome new friends/visitors! First up was the youth from the Angels of Love Day Care.After many hours of meticulous work and documentation, the team managed to stabilize the sculpture. The treatment has reduced a notable amount of corrosion, dust and accretions and the statue has an additional layer of protection from the elements. This was a wonderful project that incorporated different national institutions and for those privileged enough to physically work on this sculpture, an experience that will be treasured and momentum to continue with the other upcoming sites. 

One of the many positive outcomes of this project is the consistency of the team and commitment to continue to build on existing skills as well as share them. Anne Bancroft, Wayne Callender, Patrick Hinds, Ryan Manning, Obrian Nurse, Archie Santiago and Verden Seale are good to go. Next steps will include ongoing assessments and excitingly applying a new patina!  Stay tuned for more exciting meaningful collaborative projects! Hope you can spot the difference! 

Images courtesy William CumminsImages courtesy William Cummins and Anne Bancroft

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                                  S   E    X    Y     P   I   N    K

Views of Hew Locke’s monumental opus, The Procession. The work is installed at the Tate Britain. Every single element is imbued with the history, anguish, joy and spectacle of the Caribbean. If you’re lucky enough to be able to see it, put aside a few of hours to take it all in. @hewdjlocke @tate