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 Jasmine Thomas-Girvan. I am Jamaican and currently live in Trinidad and Tobago where I have resided for 25 years. Mine is a multidisciplinary practice which spans adornment, sculpture, installation and drawing. I am interested in unearthing subsumed narratives to address memory gaps in our Caribbean History through the lens of history, folklore, literature, spirituality and ecology.
As a maker, I privilege indigenous materials in my investigation of our complex Caribbean realities seeking an appropriate apparatus to capture the essence of our hybrid realities. My most recent work explores Marronage in the form of diorama light boxes, honoring the Mysterious Forest Canopy, sanctuary of the Maroons in Cockpit Country, Jamaica. The enigmatic modalities of survival and thriving that have occupied my research and praxis are celebrated in works like the The Healing Stream.
Can you share with us the experience of transforming “The Healing Stream” scroll into a book and video that has been unfolding, and how your collaboration with the videographer and writer has facilitated innovative approaches to share this work with a broader audience?
The Healing Stream is a 45-foot-long scroll commemorating preacher Alexander Bedward (1859-1930), whose assertion of Blackness challenged the establishment.
Initially conceived as a 12-foot drawing on black paper, the work expanded as narratives demanded more space. Themes of spirituality, resilience, marronage, ancestral cosmologies and liberation interweave and unfurl across both sides. Created for the 2022 Kingston Biennial’s theme “PRESSURE,” the scroll speaks to unremembered legacies of resistance and resilience. Though paper was the most appropriate medium at the time, the fragility of the material is limiting. The TENDER grant has made it possible for me to explore the possibility of transforming the scroll into a format that is easier to handle in a more accessible format.
The first step was to take detailed photographs of the piece so that I could then experiment with different sizes and formats. I was apprehensive at first, concerned that many details would be lost in translation because the original scroll is drawn on black paper, primarily with graphite to create a subtle intimate viewing experience. The imagery had to be translated into black and white to make it more readable as a working format for the experiment. After considering a smaller scroll or regular flip book, I decided on an accordion book format. A mockup of this was done in 3 different sizes. A mini 3.5”x 3.5” version that fits in the palm, one 5” x 7” and one 13”x 9”. I am now in dialogue with a book specialist to calibrate details for screen printing which may include editing the content for this abbreviated format. This will be a limited edition silkscreen printed book with details being added manually after printing.
The video has to be edited to modulate the gaps in the imagery. Then we will work further on the sound that will ground the visual experience. This has been a slow process. The time consuming experimentation and deliberations were necessary to determine the feasibility of the idea. The TENDER Grant allowed me the comfort of time to concentrate on these details – a luxury I would not normally have had.
Interaction with the photographer, videographer and the book specialist have contributed to the development and ultimate consolidation of what was only an idea. Having completed these prototypes, I am now working with a book specialist to take this project to completion. We are currently in dialogue with a printmaker to do a limited edition run. This grant is timely to allow me the ease and support to complete what I believe is an important contribution in the context of my ongoing body of work – offering information for collaborative empowerment.
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 have found that many people feel isolated and discouraged. Would a forum for sharing experiences be beneficial for members of the community to feel heard? I am not sure how this would be structured. Creative endeavours take time, patience and a single minded focus which can often be lonely. Understanding that these frustrations are felt by many and possibly just airing frustrations can be restorative and therapeutic and might ultimately foster community building across the region? A Caribbean “third Space” forum?
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