Please introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about where in the region you are based, and share some of the major ideas and themes you engage with in your practice.
My name is Ewan Atkinson, I was born and raised in Barbados. I have been preoccupied with Activating the storytelling capacity of collected documents and ephemera for many years. “The Neighbourhood Project,” had been the focus of my practice for two decades. I attempt to uncover and present fractured narratives that explore post-colonial nation-building, tensions between communal and individual identity formation, the production of meaning, and the existential desire to belong.
In November 2024, you participated in the Prospect 6 Triennial in New Orleans where you exhibited pieces from ‘The Neighbourhood’ series – can you share a bit about how the invitation to be part of Prospect 6 impacted your practice and the production of new work, and what your experience attending the Triennial was like?
When I was selected to take part in the Prospect 6 Triennial in New Orleans, I hadn’t made any new work in five years. I had lost all motivation. I questioned the purpose of producing and wondered if my efforts continued to hold any significance, in my life or in that of any audience. I was seriously considering ending my practice. The invitation bolstered my confidence. Yet, making the work while battling crippling self-doubt was incredibly difficult, the biggest challenge I had ever faced in my career. Perhaps the biggest hurdle was attempting to revisit ideas that lay dormant for a long time, to solve problems that had halted production, rather than move in a new direction. I had a lot to reconcile, in a relatively short period of time. Difficult as it was, I do not regret this approach, as it has allowed me to put some ideas to rest and open the door (mentally) to new ones. The struggle isn’t over, but I am pleased with the outcome.
Attending the Triennial was an invaluable experience. The ambitious scale was inspiring. There were a significant number of Caribbean artists in the triennial. I had been in exhibitions with many of these artists, but had not actually met them, or hadn’t had a chance to talk and share ideas in person in a very long time. This was a welcome antidote to the isolation that often faces an artist operating in a small community and was in part a factor that contributed to the dissolution behind my break in production.
In addition to initiatives like TENDER, what other kinds of support or programming geared towards the needs of contemporary creative practitioners would you like to see implemented in the Caribbean?
I’m not sure how to respond to this. I have been involved in various attempts to support the needs of our community of contemporary artists, in many ways. It is certainly not an easy undertaking. Often (perhaps always in small communities) it is artists themselves that take on this mantle, and I wish that didn’t have to be the case. I salute those who can continue to persevere in the struggle to fight for support. It is too easy to lose yourself in the trenches.
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