FRESH MILK begins the New Year with Malaika Brooks-Smith-Lowe

January 9, 2013May 19, 20152 Comments

The Fresh Milk Team would like to wish you all a happy and prosperous 2013, and we look forward to your continued support – we have an exciting year ahead!

Kick-starting our programming this year, we are very pleased to welcome Malaika Brooks-Smith-Lowe to the platform, where she will be our artist in residence between January 10th – February 4th.

Biography

Malaika Brooks-Smith-Lowe is a Grenadian contemporary artist/activist and co-founder of Groundation Grenada Action Collective. Her interdisciplinary approach to social change also includes yoga instruction at Spice Harmony Yoga Studio, which she runs with her family, and agricultural development and education work through The Grenada Goat Dairy Project. Malaika’s artistic inquiry is fueled by her engagement with community along these varying but interlinked pathways. Her photography and film work has been exhibited in the Grenada, Barbados, Trinidad and the United Kingdom. Malaika’s work has also been published in ARC Magazine and Caribbean Beat.

Concept

This short film will paint a portrait of a woman in her late twenties/thirties and her navigation, not so much through her life, but through her thoughts about her life. It will be an intimate meandering through the disjointed waters of her daily internal dialogue. As Stuart Hall has written, the past “…is always constructed through memory, fantasy, narrative and myth.” The site of this interpretation of our past experiences, and those of the people around us, is always located in the present. So, our moments of “now” are constantly occupied with reinterpretations and reshuffling of our past in relation to what we are encountering anew. This film seeks to explore the complex and ever fluctuating relationships that we have with our experiences and the sense of being/ego that is build around these experiences. What snippets of society/family/relationships run through our daily thoughts? What perceptions of our past, and potential future, blur our experiencing of our present moments? How do we find a balance between a blur and a necessary reflection/planning? Can we clear space and opt for neither, for just a moment of experience without constant interpretation?

Please view the gallery below to see some of Malaika’s work. We look forward to hosting her here at FRESH MILK!

Artist Talk with Anna Christina Lorenzen and Alberta Whittle

December 7, 2012May 19, 2015Leave a comment

On Saturday December 15th at 5:00pm, our two artists in residence Anna Christina Lorenzen and Alberta Whittle will be giving an artist talk at FRESH MILK. The presentation will consist of three segments:

Alberta Whittle – Presentation on her most recent work at Fresh Milk

Alberta Whittle is a Barbadian artist who returned home to take up a residency at Fresh Milk. Whittle’s work has undertaken some shifts to concentrate with greater intensity her research on hypersexuality in the Barbadian context. Focusing on the fete posters imagery of aspirational life styles and of men and women, she is interested in how these posters become a form of self-portraiture.

Anna Christina Lorenzen – Presentation on her practice and her participation in the artist-initiated Norwegian art scene

Anna Christina Lorenzen is a visual artist from Norway/Germany, who was a founding member of the studio collective, Bergen Atelier Gruppe (BAG). Through the historically and culturally universal medium of drawing, Lorenzen explores the seemingly never-ending cycle of visual representation of the body and the physical representation of the visual image of the body.

Collaboration

Lorenzen and Whittle met in Cape Town earlier this year during a residency program at Greatmore Studios. They uncovered many parallels and meeting points in their individual practices. Whilst in South Africa, they began collaborating in generating perfomative situations and documenting these actions through photographic stills and video footage. Discovering commonalities in their creative processes and concepts, they are developing a collaborative body of work at Fresh Milk.

The talk is free of cost, all are welcome!

FRESH MILK IX Photographs

December 6, 2012June 29, 20151 Comment

The bananas for Alberta Whittle's performance

Alberta Whittle's painted frame for her performance

Billboard plastered with Alberta Whittle's fete posters

Work by Trinidadian artist Rodell Warner

Work by Barbadian artist Katherine Kennedy

Part of Alberta Whittle's accompanying installation for her performance

Members of the audience mingling before the performance

Katherine Kennedy, Tirzo Martha and Holly Bynoe

Versia Harris and Alberta Whittle during 'Hustle de Money - a Performance by Bertie aka Big Red aka General outta Glitter Zone'

David Bade and Alberta Whittle during her performance

Tirzo Martha and Alberta Whittle during her performance

Alison Chapman Andrews and Alberta Whittle during her performance

Barbadian artist Janelle Griffith, who assisted with the performance

On Thursday November 29th 2012, FRESH MILK IX was held at the Milking Parlour Studio, and it was truly an inspiring event.

The night began with a performance by our artist in residence Alberta Whittle, who showcased ‘Hustle de Money – a Performance by Bertie aka Big Red aka General outta Glitter Zone.’ The interactive performance and accompanying installation explored identity as defined primarily through gender and sexuality. Thank you for a great performance, Alberta!

Following this, the visiting team from the Instituto Buena Bista (IBB) gave a presentation. David Bade, Tirzo Martha and Erik Habets introduced the organization, and students Dominic Schmetz, Kristel Rigaud and Rashid Pieter shared their own practices.

Running all night, we also had the FRESH Exhibition and art sale, featuring work from Alicia Alleyne, Evan Avery, Tracey Chan, Shanika Grimes, Versia Harris, Katherine Kennedy and Rodell Warner.

The exhibition and sale is still up, remember to email freshmilkbarbados@gmail.com to book an appointment to view and purchase some work. Support the local arts community this Christmas!

All Photographs © Dondré Trotman.

IBB Workshops at BCC with Tirzo Martha and Erik Habets

December 4, 2012May 19, 2015Leave a comment

BCC Associate Degree students taking part in the workshop

BCC Associate Degree student and IBB student Dominic Schmetz taking part in the workshop

BCC Associate Degree student taking part in the workshop

Tirzo Martha having a crit with a student

BCC Associate Degree students in discussion with Tirzo Martha

Erik Habets conducting a sculpture workshop

Product of the workshop held by Erik Habets

Erik Habets and the students viewing the work

Last Tuesday November 27th, members of the visiting team from the Instituto Buena Bista (IBB) led a series of workshops with the Art Associate Degree students at the Barbados Community College (BCC) as part of Fresh Milk’s collaborative programme with them. The students were very enthusiastic and engaged fully with the team – take a look at some of the results from the sessions with Tirzo Martha and Erik Habets!

FRESH MILK at the IBB: Blog Post IV

November 27, 2012May 19, 2015Leave a comment

The Ustream interview with David Bade and Tirzo Martha

Mirado di Turtuga, a turtle watching point on the North Coast

Holly and Erik looking at the view from Fort Beekenburg

It’s been a week since I returned to Barbados – sorry this is late, but it just shows how busy and productive things have been at Fresh Milk, while we got everything in order for the arrival of the IBB team to Barbados, and preparations for FRESH MILK IX, which will be held Thursday, November 29th at 7pm. Never a dull moment!

Overall, the interactive Ustream project Creatives in Conversation which rounded off my set of interviews in Curacao was definitely a success. There were a few technical difficulties, but all the quirks such as jokes, impromptu karaoke sessions, IT technician Omar Kuwas having to usurp me as the interviewer when he possessed the sole laptop with an internet connection, and general good natured fun made it endearing, alongside the serious and very pertinent issues David Bade and Tirzo Martha brought up about the contemporary arts in Curacao and around the region. And of course, what I found to be the greatest aspect of the project was the response we got from our viewers. NLS in Jamaica hosted an event in a local bar to screen the interview, Ateliers ’89 in Aruba also tuned in, Fresh Milk was represented, and artists and interested persons from around the region and beyond (including responses from St. Vincent, the Netherlands etc.) all took part and sent in their questions.

The interest in the project, and David and Tirzo’s passionate answers show that there is a need for this inter-regional and international communication in the arts, and that the time is ripe for this interaction to take place. As Tirzo said, stop the circular conferences and stagnant symposiums – this is our chance to take collective action and find ways to really focus on and tackle the issues we have in the Caribbean together, as the ones actually affected by legislation passed from people who do not understand the situation. Creatives in Conversation showed that despite the difficulties in inter-regional travel, we can find alternate methods to at least make a start, and I think it could be a good idea for the informal art institutions (Fresh Milk, IBB, NLS, Ateliers ’89, Alice Yard, Popopstudios, Tembe Art Studio etc.) to schedule these streamed events on a regular basis, held in a different country each time, so we remain informed about what we do and circulate our own ideas on how we can strengthen the Caribbean art scene.

If you missed the interview live, you can still view it online at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ibb-live

That weekend, we took some down time and Holly, Erik, Marijn, David, Willy and I visited a turtle watching point, had lunch in a local restaurant and visited a couple of beaches on the Saturday. On Sunday we went adventuring to the East of the island, eventually settling on Caracas Bay, a rock and pebble beach with stunningly clear water. This was also next to Fort Beekenberg, which you could climb to the top of for gorgeous views over the island.

I already miss the students and staff at the IBB, my housemates Holly Bynoe, Erik and Marijn Habets, and our dogs Bruno and Tequila. I am very grateful to everyone who contributed to my time in Curacao. I have high hopes and expectations for the outcome of this residency, with the interviews which will be released in the coming weeks introducing a wider public to the Curacao arts, and the interactive platform that we would love to continue building to set the stage for an enhanced level of understanding and collaboration. We’re already well on our way, as Fresh Milk welcomed Tirzo, David, Erik and IBB students Dominic Schmetz, Kristel Rigaud and Rashid Pieter to Barbados this past Sunday. Looking forward to this week with them, and everything our partnership with the IBB will accomplish!

Katherine Kennedy