While it’s taken us a little while to share our reflections on the year 2020, we’re pleased to celebrate what we have been able to achieve in spite of the challenges that cultural workers everywhere have had to navigate.

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Still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus has made our already precarious cultural sectors here in Barbados and across the wider Caribbean even more fragile. We have been challenged to find new ways to nurture one another, and Fresh Milk has participated in collaborations that have been beneficial to many artists in the region.

To learn more about the work we have done including CONTESTED DESIRES – an ongoing partnership with artist initiatives in the UK, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus and Italy; working with Le Centre d’Art in Haiti on a residency exchange programme; the most recent Tilting Axis Fellowship in partnership with Het Nieuwe Instituut in the Netherlands; or the pan-Caribbean CATAPULT project in partnership with The American Friends of Jamaica (AFJ) and Kingston Creative, see more below!

For 2021, Fresh Milk remains committed to delivering virtual editions of the programmes Caribbean Linked and Transoceanic Visual Exchange (TVE). These online platforms will unite artists across linguistic territories in the region, as well as expand our work with colleagues in Latin America.

If you would like to support artists participating in Caribbean Linked and TVE, or would like to lend support to the management of these various projects, go ahead and click on the donate button below! It’s very easy to support us and the artists we work with by making a donation through this PayPal link. Your contributions make our programmes possible, and gifts of any size are welcome.

While our artist residency programme is on pause now that we have honoured all previous commitments, we look forward to sharing an open call for a local project with three exciting components, which will take place right here in Barbados, in the parish of St. George.

Stay tuned for more details!

If you’d like to work with us to build your art collection by acquiring work by local and Caribbean artists, please get in touch.

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We would like to thank everyone who worked with us, supported us, and express gratitude to the many artists who we have had the privilege of working with across the Caribbean during this very demanding year.

We are pleased to be able to share our 2020 reflections with you all and hope you enjoy this newsletter.

Fresh Milk’s 2019 in Review

February 5, 2020Leave a comment

Thank you for your continued support of Fresh Milk!

At the Fresh Milk Art Platform, we believe in the visual arts and its capacity to empower young artists and bring the Caribbean closer together. Through our local, regional and international programming, we have witnessed the benefit of investing in the arts, a sector that is increasingly vital now more than ever before.

With your valuable support, we will continue to contribute to the professional development of visual artists in Barbados, the Caribbean and its diaspora through our streamlined programming in 2020. While hosting fewer artists on site at Fresh Milk, this year’s residency focus will be on Caribbean Linked – a regional residency uniting artists from all linguistic territories in the region. We’ll also be fostering new international residency opportunities for Caribbean-based professionals.

A special focus for Barbados is the We Gatherin’ project and Fresh Milk is keen to participate to this unique event. If you’d like to work with us to commission new work by local artists for the 2020 Fresh Stops project or support new work for the Fresh Milk Art Board,
click that donate button!

It’s very easy to support us by making a donation through this PayPal link. Your contributions make our programmes possible, and gifts of any size are welcome.

The Fresh Milk Team offers warm thanks and deep gratitude,
and invites you to reflect on 2019 with us in our annual
year in review newsletter!

TVE 2019 Online Exhibition

November 23, 2019May 11, 2021Leave a comment

Fresh Milk is excited to launch the Transoceanic Visual Exchange 2019 Online Exhibition, which will be available for viewing between November 23rd – December 21st.

Exhibiting artists include:

Wang Chen (China/Australia) – My Little Brother and Secret
Chen Dandizi (China) – Deep Relax
Luk Gama (Guadeloupe) – Tan boudé chiré…
Versia Harris (Barbados) – For Peace
Zhiliang Jin (UK/China) – Shareable Horizons
Kadiejra O’Neal (Barbados) – Gestation Period
Ada M. Patterson (Barbados) – Buchibushi and Rammelaar
Richard Mark Rawlins (Trinidad & Tobago) – SUGAR
Kia Redman (Barbados) – Roots | Routes and Surround Sounds
Sucheng (China) – 一千零一夜 (At This Moment)
Zhao Xu (China) – Stranded Dreams

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Have a Question about TVE?

If you have a question about the TVE programme, or want to engage directly with the Caribbean and Chinese artists about their work, the #askTVE form lets you submit your feedback and questions directly to our team, and we will share the artists’ responses with you in an open forum!

Announcing Kia Redman as the Barbadian resident artist at Le Centre d’Art, Haiti

September 17, 2019Leave a comment

Fresh Milk is thrilled to announce Barbadian artist Kia Redman as the recipient of a one month artist residency at Le Centre d’Art, Haiti, who we have partnered with for a residency exchange programme between Haiti and the wider Caribbean to create opportunities for women arts practitioners, supported by UNESCO’s International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFDC).

Kia’s residency will take place October 14th – November 14th, 2019. A subsequent call for women, Haitian artists to attend a one month residency with us at Fresh Milk, Barbados will be released soon!

About Kia Redman:

Kia Redman is a creative professional living and working in Barbados. She attained her BFA in Studio Art R with first-class honours from the Barbados Community College in 2017 and has spent the time since developing her creative practice.

Kia currently works part time as a designer and videographer for Acute Vision Inc. and Bajans in Motion. She has participated in local residencies with Punch Creative Arena and Fresh Milk Barbados and taken part in local group shows and screenings internationally. In 2018 her short film Roots|Routes won six awards including Best Short Film at the Barbados Visual Media Festival.

Being born into a post-independent nation in formation, Kia’s work focuses on issues of identity, mapping culture and documenting histories. She aims to rewrite the blanket definition taught to be her Caribbean identity and discover the things unique to her lived experience.

Jungle, Digital Collage (in progress), Experimentation with combining live images with illustrations. Part of ‘A Paradise Escape?’

The Tourist, Digital Collage (in progress), Part of ‘A Paradise Escape?’

The Citizen, Digital Collage (in progress), Part of ‘A Paradise Escape?’

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About Le Centre d’Art:

Le Centre d’Art in Port-au-Prince is an institution that works towards promoting artistic creations by Haitian practitioners on the basis of preserved heritage values. Since its creation in 1944, this atypical space with multiple missions has been at the heart of societal and artistic evolutions. As the major protagonist in the reconfiguration of the fine arts realm in Haiti, Le Centre d’Art has been paving the way for several schools and artistic movements.

Despite the destruction of the infrastructure during the earthquake of 2010, Le Centre d’Art managed to save more than 5000 works and 3000 archive files, which are today preserved and valued. Since the reopening in 2014, Le Centre d’Art has once again become an essential part of Haitian culture.

Its mission is to support artists and their creations, and to conserve and disseminate Haitian visual arts. It is a resource space for artists, art students, art lovers, collectors and researchers alike.

FRESH MILK XXII Photographs

July 18, 2019Leave a comment

Fresh Milk is pleased to share images from FRESH MILK XXII: Residency Readings, hosted on Friday, July 5th, 2019.

Writers-in-residence – inaugural recipient of the Colleen Lewis Research/Writing Residency, Barbadian artist Kia Redman; participant in our international residency programme, Bahamian writer Ethan Knowles; and the 2019 ‘My Time’ Local Resident, Barbadian writer Ark Ramsay – each shared the outcomes of their residencies, giving readings of their work and engaging with the audience about their experiences over the last few weeks.

All photos by Dondré Trotman.