Damali Abrams’ Residency: Week 3 Report – Groundation Grenada

The first day of the performance workshop with Damali Abrams at Groundation Grenada.

The first day of the performance workshop with Damali Abrams during her week at Groundation Grenada.

I spent last week in Grenada and facilitated a two-day performance art workshop with Groundation Grenada. The workshop was absolutely amazing!

There were twelve very enthusiastic participants. Students, teachers, actors, models, photographers, writers, videographers and more, representing a wide age range.

The first day we were at The National Museum. I created a presentation showing as much of a variety of performance art as I could in an hour. Rather than presenting in chronological order, I went back and forth between contemporary and older examples. Sheena Rose’s recent Sweet Gossip performances in Barbados, Lorraine Ogrady as Mlle Bourgeois Noir, My Barbarian, Anna Mendieta, Michelle Isava in Trinidad, Yoko Ono and so on. I showed photos and videos. The group was very engaged and we had some compelling discussions about the topics raised in each performance as well as the methods utilized by the various performance artists. After the presentations we broke into smaller groups to plan public performance pieces for the next day. We placed topics in a bag and let a representative from each group choose. The topics in the bag were high unemployment rates; stigmatizing mental illness; domestic violence; and Grenada secondary schools expelling girls who become pregnant.

The second day we took it to the streets!

Malaika, Damali and Aisha during their public performance. Photo by Zoë Hagley

Malaika, Damali and Ayisha during their public performance. Photo by Zoë Hagley

We set up in front of the Esplanade Mall on a busy day. Ayisha and Malaika from Groundation Grenada and I decided to choose a topic from the bag and create a performance as well. Our topic was the fact that if a girl becomes pregnant in secondary school in Grenada, she is expelled. The three of us dressed in school uniforms with long navy blue pleated skirts and white shirts with peter pan collars. Ayisha and Malaika stuffed their bellies to look pregnant. I carried a swaddled teddy bear to look like my baby. We walked into the plaza in front of the Esplanade Mall. It was a Friday afternoon and there were a lot of kids and adults around. We set up three metal folding chairs. To our left was a sign that read “Cast the First Stone.” In the center about five feet in front of us was a large stone. (We made sure that it was large enough that if someone did decide to “cast” it at us, it would be too heavy.) We sat there and Malaika and Ayisha rubbed their pregnant bellies. I held and rocked my baby. People began to gather around, very curious about what we were up to. There was a huge circle of people around who only continued to gather as each of our groups performed.

The group that chose domestic violence was up next. The group decided to view the term domestic violence more broadly, beginning in the home with spousal abuse and child abuse, and spreading out to domestic violence as violence against the nation and on planet Earth, our collective home. The group designed elaborate costumes and props out of cardboard and acted out a scene where an oppressor dragged two people behind him, holding onto him by a long heavy metal chain.

The group doing a performance around domestic violence. Photo by Zoë Hagley

The group doing a performance dealing with domestic violence. Photo by Zoë Hagley

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The group doing a performance dealing with domestic violence. Photo by Zoë Hagley

The next group’s performance was about stigmatizing mental illness. They had a table in the center with four chairs. The three performers came out in different states of eccentric dress. On their plates instead of food they were “eating” cell phones, condoms and jewelry. The one male performer in the group blew up a condom like a balloon and stuck it into the one shoulder that his t-shirt was covering. Students from the crowd came close to see what was happening. One boy sat at the free chair at the table and began interacting with the group.

The group doing a performance dealing with the stigma around mental illness. Photo by Zoë Hagley

The group doing a performance dealing with the stigma around mental illness. Photo by Zoë Hagley

The final group’s performance was about high unemployment rates. They marched out in a circle and then performed various gestures under a long black cloth, symbolizing domestic violence, neglected children and prostitution, some of the affects of high unemployment. At the end the group dropped to the floor and just lay there with their heads covered by the black cloth for about ten minutes, completely still. The crowd was riveted and when the group finally stood up from the ground, the audience cheered.

The group doing a performance dealing with the consequences of unemployment.

The group doing a performance dealing with the consequences of high unemployment rates.

The group doing a performance dealing with the consequences of high unemployment rates.

The group doing a performance dealing with the consequences of high unemployment rates.

It was an exhilarating experience for all of us. It was intense to create these performances around such weighty topics.  It was also a bonding experience. We took a huge risk thrusting ourselves into the public sphere and there was great reward and a feeling of camaraderie. I felt creatively rejuvenated and inspired by the entire experience and seeing what all of the workshop participants came up with. There was a certain level of freedom performing in a place where I don’t know anyone. But I also felt nervous about doing an unsanctioned performance in a public place. I couldn’t imagine how people would react. I also didn’t know if as an outsider I had a right to claim this space and comment on these issues in someone else’s country and community. Those issues remain unresolved for me, but I feel inspired to find ways to continue this kind of work wherever I am.

Infinite thanks to Groundation Grenada for inviting me and allowing me the space to share my passion for performance, as well as making my week in Grenada unforgettable.

Damali Abrams

Damali Abrams’ Residency: Week 2 Report

Damali's glitter covered dress

I presented my work to art majors at BCC (Barbados Community College) on Monday. Seriously one of the toughest crowds ever. They seemed to have a lot to say based on facial expressions and whispering amongst themselves but would not say much to me no matter how I tried to engage them. I learned afterward that this is common among students here. One student also told me privately after class that the fact that I framed my work as feminist made the males afraid to respond based on what other guys might think of them. He also thought that the young women in the  class might be afraid to respond, not wanting the guys to think that they were man-haters. When I mentioned feminism, one male student sadly asked “Why feminism? Why not something that includes everyone?” I tried to quickly define feminism and told him that it does include everyone. Then I prescribed some bell hooks.

I went back the next day with just Annalee’s class (a much smaller group than the day before) to watch Herb & Dorothy. It’s a really sweet documentary about this average couple (librarian & postal worker) who live in a cramped one-bedroom apartment and and spend their 40-something year marriage cramming the space with an amazing art collection worth millions. And then they refused offers to sell the work and instead donated the entire collection to the National Gallery.

After the film there was some very lively debate about what art is and what it is isn’t. Some of the students were quite offended that I’d said in my presentation the day prior that I believe that everything is art. They didn’t raise it during my talk but apparently talked a lot about it  afterwards. It was great to hear the students’ views and I really enjoyed engaging with them and getting to see one student’s work after class.

At the end of the week I went with the same group to a gallery called ArtSplash where a local artist exhibiting there spoke with the class about his work. It was nice being able to interact with a local artist and hearing about his practice and process.

I feel like my consciousness is expanding in so many ways. I have been consuming so much beauty here on a daily basis. I have been absorbing art and conversations. I have experienced new levels of solitude. It takes me a long time to process things so I have no idea how all of this is going to manifest in my art in the long-run…

I have been filming a lot (as always). The scenery is magical and I want to capture everything. I also make sure to pause at moments to take it all in without the camera. On Saturday Mark King, another local artist, took me to Bathsheba Beach so that I could get some footage. It was overwhelmingly beautiful and I’m really thankful that he was willing to be so generous with his time.

On Thursday Katherine invited me to her zumba class. It was absolutely amazing! Nothing but soca and dancehall music and a fun opportunity to wine up and wuk up! I learned some new moves to bring back to New York.

The project I came here to work on feels stagnant right now. I am trying to breathe new life into it but I’m not sure how. I feel extremely inspired but it’s like I’m in a completely different dimension than when I began working on the Fresh Performance  interviews way back in April. On the positive side, editing the work means deep listening to the words of the artists I’ve interviewed and I am gaining a lot of inspiration and insight from them as well.

And as you can see in the photos and video, I’m still enjoying covering things in glitter.

Damali Abrams

Damali Abrams’ Residency: Week 1 Report

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Damali Abrams making a presentation to the BCC Fine Arts students

For the past six months I have been participating in an off-site residency, collaborating with Fresh Milk on the Fresh Performance project. To find out how performance art manifests in New York City and the Caribbean, I have been conducting a series of interviews with artists who engage performance in different forms in their work. This includes performative photos and videos as well as live performance. Each month from April through September, I interviewed one artist in NYC and one in the Caribbean via the internet. Each month the interviews had a different theme including defining performance art; gender & sexuality; and how performance communicates. Now I am here in Barbados to edit the interviews together into a full-length documentary.

The first week of my residency here on the Fresh Milk platform was lovely, though I also felt a bit anxious. I have about six hours of interview footage from the past six months, though the videos that I have been posting online have only been about ten minutes each. I finally have the opportunity to add in all of the interesting things that the artists said that I had to edit out. Though it is an interesting project, it is somewhat daunting as well.

When I’m at home in New York and I am working on editing video projects, I often take dance breaks to shake out my body as well as my brain. I’m too shy to do that here but I have been taking collage breaks, collecting images from books and magazines that Fresh Milk provided and covering them with glitter. I’m not sure how any of this will turn out or if it will even turn into anything concrete, but it is an enjoyable way to take breaks from sitting in front of the computer all day.

Damali Abrams

Versia Harris’ Residency at the IBB, Curacao

Barbadian artist Versia Harris blogs about her residency at the Instituto Buena Bista (IBB) in Curacao, where she is taking part in their International Project Space programme for the month of October, 2013.

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My impression of The Instituto Buena Bista when I first walked through their offices, studios and expansive garden, was that it is a place that supports art experimentation of all kinds. Whether it is audio, video, photography, new media or mixed media, etc, they have rooms and equipment that make these things possible. Scattered everywhere is artwork, both finished and unfinished. The place immediately put me at ease and also made me excited about creating new work.

The IBB courtyard

The IBB courtyard

Most of the first week was just about settling in and getting familiar with Curacao life but by the end of it, I started to flesh out some of the  ideas rolling around in my head.

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The second week commenced my teaching at the Institute.  I opted to demonstrate to the students how I produce my animations so that they could then produce their own. Tutoring so many people is an entirely new experience that came with its ups and downs. On the one hand, most of them are quite receptive and have come up with some nice ideas of what to animate. On the other hand, students will be students. I found it difficult at first to deal with some of the excuses as to why they didn’t do this or that, the very late submissions or complete absences that kept me repeating myself. The experience is exciting and rewarding yet frustrating and exhausting, but it is something that I’m glad I got the opportunity to do.

Outside of my lessons some of the students and I have been discussing and exchanging ideas. I’ve started to toy with some live action video, something I have almost no experience in. It hasn’t gotten very far so I’m not sure how I feel about it yet, but I’m looking forward to what the rest of the time reveals to me about this medium.

Video stills from Versia Harris' work in progress

To keep up with Versia’s progress, follow her blog at versiaabeda.tumblr.com

Caribbean Linked II Artist Blogs: Robin de Vogel

Dutch/Aruban artist Robin de Vogel shares her experience during Caribbean Linked II, a residency programme at Ateliers ’89, Aruba.  She describes her need to appropriate and settle into a studio space, accumulating ‘objets trouvés’ as a part of her creative process. As she carved out this space for herself, she also discovered where she  fit in the environments constructed by her fellow resident artists. Through their time together she noticed the closing of a gap between the Caribbean islands, building “a bridge where only creative-exchange is accepted as toll fare.”

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Robin de Vogel marking the Ateliers ’89 van

Planting Long-distance Seeds

After the first breakfast with all of us at the table, eating while debating politics and manners of campaigning in the Caribbean, I walked through the blue and yellow halls of the Ateliers in pursuit of a good spot to start working. Sofia had set up shop in the far left corner of the first room, one of the larger and lighter spaces in the building. With some of the space already being semi occupied, I moved some tables around to figure out where I’d want to put down roots for the coming two weeks of our residency. I strategically placed myself facing away from the doorway, as I know myself to be continuously curious and therefore easily distracted by everything around me.

About two months ago, two weeks prior to my graduation show, the time had come to clean up the studio space I had inhabited for the past year. I felt like a snail without its shell after everything was moved around, cleaned up, thrown out or saved by taking it home. All the different materials I’d managed to accumulate during the semester to “one day” be of use and my ever-growing collage on the wall. Pictures, postcards, newspaper clippings, objets trouvés, souvenirs and film stills.

Studio space snapshot 2012

Studio space snapshot 2012

They function as tangible trains of thought being slowed down and captured on the walls around me, as though the content of my brain is lightly hugging me.

Appropriating a studio space as my own is crucial for my sanity. During the first few days of the residency I started a small investigation into the studio spaces of the other resident artists. It was exciting to see each individual formulate their workspace in their own style. My own ideal ‘two-week-working-space’ needed a mascot of some sort, sooner rather than later. I promised myself to make, find, steal or collect one object a day, for a week. It led to a small altar.

A mascot a day keeps the doctor away, Robin de Vogel, 2013

A mascot a day keeps the doctor away, Robin de Vogel, 2013

As the days progressed I began to realise the vast significance a project like Caribbean Linked II carries within the development of Caribbean art today. The project is not only about establishing a direct link between ten young Caribbean artists during their time in Aruba, but it forms a direct bridge between the islands, a bridge where only creative-exchange is accepted as toll fare. Upon asking curator Holly Bynoe why she believes in this project so very much she answered: “We are planting seeds”.

Image by Shirley Rufin

Image by Shirley Rufin

The work I made during the residency spoke about our ‘reach’ as a human being. Our reach can be categorized as something tangible and measurable like a radius or a circumference, but at the same time our reach can be something elusive and invisible. An opinion exchanged about a work in progress can lead to a complete overhaul in someone’s point of view. Hence the reach of that particular dialogue is immeasurable and untold, as is the importance of the seeds planted during Caribbean Linked II. The elements I take home with me from the continuous exchange that took place during those two weeks are undeniable. I have become aware of a much broader range of artistic possibilities within the Caribbean, various residency programs, projects and creative institutes that I am extremely excited about. Getting to know these beautiful human beings from all over the Caribbean and sharing my island with them makes the oceanic barrier feel so much smaller. Ultimately it leads to an amplified sense of connectivity amongst the different islands as well as an increased feeling of personal responsibility to promote and unite in our diversity.

Image by Shirley Rufin

Image by Shirley Rufin

Image by the artist

Image by the artist

About Robin de Vogel:

Robin de Vogel is a Dutch artist raised on the island of Aruba. She participated in photography, drawing, painting and installation art workshops provided by Ateliers ’89. In 2008, she moved back to The Netherlands to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the Ceramics Department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. She also engages in various collaborative projects and exhibitions in Europe and the Caribbean. Robin’s work often takes the form of installations that revolve around the sensibility of the viewer. Her pieces aim to serve as a subtle disruption of the daily routine. Currently, Robin is completing her exam year and is preparing to pursue a Master of Fine Arts Degree after the summer.

CARIBBEAN LINKED II is a residency programme and exhibition organized by Ateliers ’89 Foundation in collaboration with ARC Inc. and The Fresh Milk Art Platform Inc. and funded by the Mondriaan Foundation. The programme took place from August 25th through September 6th, 2013 in Oranjestad, Aruba.