ARC Magazine shares ‘Reporting from Sustainable Communities: Creativity and Policy in the Transnational Caribbean’

December 12, 2013May 20, 2015Leave a comment

The second conference in the ‘Sustainable Communities: Creativity and Policy in the Transnational Caribbean’ series took place on December 3-4, 2013 at Iniva, London. This conference brought together participants from the Caribbean and its diaspora who are involved in the arts and influential creative initiatives, including founding director of FRESH MILK Annalee Davis, and highlighted social, historical and financial challenges that they face in trying to nurture healthy artistic communities in the region. Charl Landvreugd reports from the conference exclusively for ARC Magazine.

Sustainable Communities: Creativity and Policy in the Transnational Caribbean conference held at INIVA. Images courtesy of Annalee Davis.

Excerpt:

As the mark of success in art seems to be related to public engagement, establishing links through existing spaces to broaden local audiences on artistic, critical and financial levels is paramount. Part of this can be achieved through carefully archiving Caribbean lived experience. As an example of this, Joy Gregory started/is starting up a residency in the former house of fashion designer Trevor Owens in Jamaica, providing a way into understanding this experience. At the same time, according to Therese Hadchity, the local and historical context is being transcended by artists like Sheena Rose, Ewan Atkinson and Alicia Alleyne, and is being picked up in other parts of the world. A new hybrid globalised subject is emerging with mixed sensibilities. Jynell Osborne made this clear by speaking about diversity in heritage and how this affects social and political issues in a country like Guyana. “We have to recognise where cultures come together and where they stay apart in Guyana, and by extension in the Caribbean. Part of building a strong society is building a strong culture that is sustainable.” Tying back to the production of a critical discourse, this seems to be done more by writers than visual artists in smaller countries. Why is that?

One thing that the speakers and audience agreed on was Petrona Morisson’s sentiment that the Caribbean and its diaspora should not repeat patterns of exclusion in our effort to build a sustainable art community. Annalee Davis’ presentation on the initiative Fresh Milk is seen as one of the ways in which talent can be nurtured in our own geographical space. She made a case for the fourth sector model of social economy in light of the lack of funds, creating wealth by means of nurturing creative talent within the region. This, the panel agreed, is a revolutionary act. By first working within the local space and sustaining creative process, expansion to include all of the region is anticipated. The question of an understandable art language for everybody may be a consequence of this way of working. What the impact of this will be outside and inside of academia can only be imagined at this point. Who defines and critiques history, and is history in the way of the future? This was asked by Ozkan Golpinar when he explained the way decisions on funding are being made in the West.

Read the full article on ARC Magazine here.

Panelists and supporters at Sustainable Communities: Creativity and Policy in the Transnational Caribbean conference held at INIVA.

Adrian Green and Sky LARC’s Residency: Final Report

December 5, 2013May 20, 2015Leave a comment

Adrian Green and Sky LARC share their final residency report on their ongoing film collaboration, which will be screened at Fresh Milk in 2014 upon its completion. Stay tuned for more information on this in the new year.

Thanks to Adrian and LARC for working with Fresh Milk on this project and concluding the local residency programme for 2013.

It is over but it is not done. We are in mid labour with the video for the poem H(art)d work, conceived with Fresh Milk. It will be a bastard child; born after the relationship of LARC, Adrian Green and Fresh Milk has officially ended. But many so called illegitimate children have risen to dwarf the stature of their peers born and raised in the standardised arrangement. Jesus comes to mind.

However instead of having one earthly parent, this project has three.

We cannot say for sure that this video child is immaculate. It has not yet fully emerged from the womb. We can see the head though, and it looks to be well formed. As this is the first video adaptation of one of my poems, I feel confident though that I will be able to say, “This is my only begotten video, with whom I am well pleased.”

Till this long tedious labour is complete, all I have is faith. Faith without works is dead, so to ensure that this baby is not still born, much work still remains. This project has made a believer out of me. I have a newer, fresher appreciation for the medium of film and video which is in many ways the polar opposite of my own preferred mode of expression. One is more communal, the other solitary. One is tech dependent the other needs only a black lead and paper.

So much frustration, so much back and forth, so many different personalities: I am not used to this. In fact I actively avoid it. Thank you LARC and Fresh Milk for forcing me to grow.

On to the next scene…

– Adrian Green

FRESH MILK XIII Video

November 6, 2013June 9, 2015Leave a comment

Take a look at our video from FRESH MILK XIII, held on October 24th 2013 at Fresh Milk.

The event featured of a screening of our resident artist Damali Abrams’ documentary Fresh Performance: Contemporary Performance Art in NYC & The Caribbean; the launching of our new public gallery space the FRESH MILK ARTBOARD & our Virtual Map of Caribbean Art Spaces; screening a selection from Project 35: Volume 2, a traveling exhibition produced by Independent Curators International, New York; and showcasing the new additions to the Colleen Lewis Reading Room.

Thanks to Sammy Davis for shooting and editing this video.

FRESH MILK at the 18th International Contemporary Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil

November 5, 2013May 20, 2015Leave a comment

FRESH MILK is very pleased to be in Sao Paulo to participate in the 18th Festival de Arte Contemporanea SESC Videobrasil – 30 Anos Panoramos do Sul. Founding director of Fresh Milk Annalee Davis will be taking part in the 3rd Focus group of the festival’s public programming, which centers on artist residencies. She will be presenting at a panel titled ‘Hospitality and the politics of mobility’ on November 10, 2013.

Focus 3 | Residences and Routes to Art Research

From the late 1980s on, economic globalization has directly influenced the sphere of cultural exchanges, driving the reinvention of the avenues for creation and artistic exchange. That has paved the way for practice- and research-oriented networks capable of reversing the knowledge flow, which moved from North to South up until then. The focus Residences and Routes to Art Research will discuss how artistic residency experiences reverberate upon the dynamics of collaboration between agents and institutions that relate to art, culture, and various spheres of society.

Hospitality and the politics of mobility
November 10, 11 a.m. — Sesc Pompeia / Galpão

The growing circulation of goods and human capital brought about by globalization is accompanied by the reaffirmation of differences and the closing of borders. In times of increased mobility and the worsening of identity disputes, the act of welcoming becomes a political act. What values permeate hospitality? How does artistic research in displacement interfere with the spaces and agents that deal with the permeability of current borders?

Featuring:

Aaron Cezar (Mamou, USA, 1977) Dancer and cultural producer. Director of the Delfina Foundation, which focuses on cultural exchange between the United Kingdom, the Middle East and Africa.

Annalee Davis (St. Michael, Barbados, 1963) Founder of the Fresh Milk Art Platform Inc and Visual Arist. Her work explores notions of home, longing and belonging within the larger context of a post-colonial Caribbean history and is concerned with the impact of tourism on the shifting physical landscapes of the archipelago.

Koyo Kouoh (Douala, Cameroon, 1967) Curator. Founder and director of the RAWMaterial Company, an art center in Dakar, Senegal. She has curated international African contemporary art shows.

Moderator: Amilcar Packer (Santiago de Chile, 1974) Artist whose practice displaces, subverts, and re-contextualizes commonplace objects, architecture, and the human body in actions and recordings. He has featured in the Biennale of Sydney (2004).

FRESH MILK XIII Photographs

November 1, 2013July 18, 2019Leave a comment

We are pleased to share images from FRESH MILK XIII which took place on Thursday, October 24th 2013 at the Milking Parlour Studio.

To listen to an interview conducted by Stacia Brathwaite with Fresh Milk Founder/Director Annalee Davis promoting the event and speaking about Fresh Milk’s mission, which aired Wednesday October 23rd on Starcom Network’s 6:00pm Williams News Makers segment, click here: Fresh Milk Feature.

The event comprised of a screening of our resident artist damali abrams’ documentary Fresh Performance: Contemporary Performance Art in NYC & The Caribbean; the launching of our new public gallery space FRESH MILK ARTBOARD & our Virtual Map of Caribbean Art Spaces; screening a selection from Project 35: Volume 2, a traveling exhibition produced by Independent Curators International, New York; and showcasing the new additions to the Colleen Lewis Reading Room.

Special thanks to the US Embassy in Barbados for supporting damali’s residency and contributing to the expansion of the Reading Room; to the Maria Holder Memorial Trust for supporting the Virtual Map as well as expanding the library collection; Groundation Grenada for taking part in this collaborative residency with us; the ICI for sharing Project 35; and to Musson Realty for donating their billboard for Fresh Milk to use as an exhibition space. We are extremely grateful for all of the relationships we have formed, which assist us in carrying out our mission.

All photographs by Mark King unless otherwise stated.