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 Oneka Small. I wear many hats including being a curator. I live in Barbados. I looked back at this video I did 5 years ago and it is still true. It details who I am and what I do.
At present I am Curator with the National Cultural Foundation at the Queen’s Park Gallery and an Artist-Curator with Artists Alliance Barbados of which I am a founding, Director.
In what ways have the travels you have undertaken since receiving the TENDER grant been applied to your work as a curator? Have these experiences impacted or benefited your broader community, and can you speak more specifically to the ‘Unpacking Souvenirs’ exhibition you curated in Barbados and the ways in which that show was influenced by your travel to Senegal?
My travel to Senegal, at the time when I received the grant, inspired the exhibition ‘Unpacking Souvenirs’ this exhibition was hosted by the Argentine Embassy and featured work of artists who had also been to Africa and created work that in some way responded to their experience.
The trip was with the National Cultural Foundation, but the grants facilitated extra cash so that I was able to share a meal or two with fellow artists and extend beyond the normal hospitality to those in need. In ‘Unpacking Souvenirs’ I was able to cover exhibition expenses through the grant. No commissions were taken from sale of artwork and I was able to assist some artists with meeting needs when asked.
This travel also inspired a new body of personal artwork a direct response to Senegal.
Excerpts from ‘Unpacking Souvenirs’ curatorial text:
What you bring back for me? Or a variant, is the familiar question posed by family, friends and work colleagues, upon return from a travel. The longer the journey the greater the onus the satisfy curiosity. A souvenir, a representation of the country visited, branded with name or flavour only to be acquire overseas is a welcomed token.
Social media and TV still haven’t killed the curiosity around a real experience. For some there is a ‘pressure’ to give a token of the trip, a way to share in the experience of the travel.
…
Souvenirs are not only things, but they are also stories, they are pictures, a new way of preparing food, a change in daily habits brought about by a revelation in the country travelled to. A souvenir also serves as the key to unlock memory. As we celebrate Afrikan Heritage Month it is the intention of this show to release memories of Africa as we learn about countries through the eyes of the following 7 Barbadian Artists.
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 would like to see the following, not necessarily in order of priority.
- More spaces and opportunities for more artists to show their work.
- High stakes competitions to push creativity.
- More opportunities to foster the growth of Artists collectives and exchanges.
- More residencies/facilitation of intense periods of study.
- More materials grants.
- More travel opportunities in terms of facilitating study tours to museums, biennials and major art shows.
- Great facilitation of artists participation in opportunities beyond island and then beyond the territory.
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