I have long neglected my own space here for too long.
It's not due to lack of work, it's because I have been doing so much of it.
Last year I was awarded with a grant from Arts Council England. I immediately went to Puerto Rico to document and do filming. When I returned in the summer, I began writing the show "The Self is a Trick of Memory". The title inspired by a quote from the writer Albert Wendt.
Hurricane Maria disrupted my ability to cope and work efficiently, and has ravaged parts of the Caribbean, and has severely affected the lives of some of my family members living in Puerto Rico. It's been a difficult time but we're all trying to move forward.
In writing and creating the film for my show, I have also done a load of research on Caribbean art, films, Puerto Rican art practice. I've done this for a long time before this project, but I am now doing it in a new light with fresh eyes. In conversation with my cousins girlfriend, who herself is an established professor and contemporary art historian, she told me I needed to start situating my own practice within a Caribbean framework. Which I have begun to do, whilst maintaining that my work still comes from a Diasporic perspective.
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So what do I have coming up?
A few things. I will be posting on here regularly from now on. For now, here are the more immediate updates.
I'll be speaking at the panel "Code Switch" with Enid Otun on Sunday 29 April
For more info on WOW Norwich: https://norwichartscentre.co.uk/events/wow-norwich-weekend-pass-2018/?spektrix_bounce=true
The Playhouse Bar and I are working together, in conjunction with WOW Norwich, and putting together and exhibition featuring women, femme and queer artists. For my part, I am photographing 3 Black women creatives working and living here in the city. The call for entries ends tomorrow, March 17, and I can't wait to see what people submitted!
Dates for the exhibition and private view will be announced soon.
UNA Gallery is a pop-up gallery that I co-curate with photographer and painter Daniel Clegg. UNA's next show will be installed this coming week!! We will be exhibiting at St Mary's Shoe Factory again for a few weeks and our last show was probably my favorite thus far. I basically say this everytime we have an exhibition. The experience gets better and better.
https://contactunagallery.wixsite.com/unagallery