TRINITY AT ALICE YARD

Summer Adventure in China

2011-06-26T10:08:00.004-04:00

June 1st-24th I participated in a Trinity summer program in China called "Megacities of the Yangtze River." Focusing on the urbanization of river cities we took various water quality samples along the way to document the influence of urbanization on the environment. From Beijing, Chengdu, and Chongqing to Nanjing, Suzhou, and Shanghai, check out my China summer adventure photos on flickr!

Unidos Por La Musica (United by the Music)

2010-12-12T19:49:00.004-04:00

Wednesday 15 December, 2010, at 6.30 pm

Alice Yard’s final event for 2010 is an exhibition of photographs documenting contemporary parang music in Trinidad, with a performance by the parang group Los Amigos Cantadores.

Isabella Elizalde is a student at Trinity College, Connecticut. She has spent the Fall 2010 semester working in Trinidad under the mentorship of photographer Mark Lyndersay. Her series of photographs titled Unidos por la Musica documents Los Amigos Cantadores over several months leading up to the 2010 Christmas season.

"I began taking photography classes at the age of 14; I had barely started high school, and had an opportunity to take a photography class. I fell in love with the art instantly; I was astonished at what it had to offer and the by the process of development. In college I took my higher level photography class with Pablo Delano. I learned the struggles and tribulations that a photographer has to overcome in order to create a successful series photographs. I took what professor Delano taught me and brought it overseas to Trinidad.

When I first arrived to Trinidad I did not know anyone, I was nervous and afraid to talk to people since I did not know how they would react to me. Shamagne Bertrand, the program director for my study abroad program, mentioned parang music and the group that she is involved in. I decided to go because I thought it would be a great opportunity to meet people. At first I only went to parang practice to help them with their pronunciation, of Spanish words. However after a while I enjoyed the atmosphere and the people. I was amazed at how welcoming they were to a stranger. I thought that this would be a great chance to highlight what it means to be in a Parang group.

Whenever I went to their practices I felt a sense of closeness and community. Like any music group, there were struggles the parang group had to overcome. They helped each other, and by working as a team, were able to rejoice in their triumphs together. Los Amigos Cantadores welcomed and allowed me to document their daily lives. For me, this made my stay in Trinidad even better. Although at times seeing them interact with each with such love, made me a tad bit homesick, I realized how close the group is.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, the group sets up in the driveway of one of the founding members, Neal Marcano. They fill the streets of Trincity with their wonderful music, the singers singing in Spanish, a language that is practically foreign to them, but sung effortlessly with the traditional instruments of parang in the background. For me, it was amazing and wonderful hearing them sing Spanish songs that my mother used to play for me when I was younger. I truly was immersed in Trinidadian culture in a way I never expected. It is safe to say that without meeting the parang group, I would not have had such a great time in Trinidad. Documenting Los Amigos Cantadores, not only taught me the virtue of community, but also took me on an unforgettable journey in which I was able to find myself through photography. Los Amigos Cantadores welcomed me with open arms and I would like to return the favor and thank them for their kindness, for which I am eternally grateful."
See portfolio here

RUST MUSEUM

2010-05-10T23:59:00.003-04:00

For one of my Trinity Program final projects, I chose to create a series of photos referring to my experience in Trinidad to teach someone else about it. I've decided to mount these photos on the rust orange wall as a sort of learning museum for the show. Some of the captions have more of my personality than others, but I tried to keep them objective so they are not relative to my one opinion or experience. This is a timeless museum. ENJOY!

House Project Updates

2010-05-08T18:01:00.008-04:00

1. Floor has been stripped and waxed

A huge thanks goes out to our cleaning lady for making the floors beautiful again! It was quite a task that took two days to complete, the kitchen and nook in one day then the entire classroom the next. It was also a task to keep people from walking on the floors for a reasonable amount of time. Of course, I dont want to (and sometimes simply can't) deny users from entering the building... but I tried! As of today, the floors look great. I believe they will get a second coat of polish at the beginning of this coming week. Actually, I wonder if regular floor polish can be used on the wooden stairs too.....

2. Finally got window and door treatments

Thanks to Nikki's willingness and Jude (our driver) for his patience, the classroom and main entrance door now have curtains. I thought it best to look for something light colored and light-weight for the classroom, but grand entrance curtains for the doors. I also found some door beads on sale for the kitchen entrances, in place of thin curtains like were there before. Curtains add a nice touch of home for a place so institutional, but I am no expert.

3. Learning how to make captions on photos

This photo (credits to Nicolette Laume) pasted into Photoshop with great quality and I only need to work on my effiiciency in adding captions now. I'm not sure if I want the text box to appear around the photo, but if I do choose to do that, I'll also put a matching black border around the image itself. Hopefully, I will be able to matte all the images. These are for the rust orange wall, to highlight some features of the program and the country.

The thing is.... I dont want the wall to just be about my experience, but to be mostly universal so it is timeless on the wall. Every generation can view and learn something about what I found in the house, or what we did this semester, etc. So I need to collect photos from other students to compliment my own and make this wall more 'well rounded' and complete. Everyone has exams and final papers and presentations, therefore my requests for .jpgs will be the easiest to forget. I'd rather not sacrifice the quality of the project by waiting. I've already made the group aware that I'm looking for photos, but I havent received any donations yet. I may need a backup plan. I will do my best to give credits where they are due and seek photos for these topics (here are just a few): Pitch Lake, Tobago, Native fruits, Alice Yard, Liliput Theatre, 3 Canal, Leroy Clarke, Maracas Beach, UWI. I may also call upon photos from Andrea's maxi project and Nikki's presenation on boundaries.

4. Official show date

We are required to do a group presentation for Tony Hall's "Festival and Drama" course before the end of the semester. Originally we were to present on May 5th but given the crunch for time with exams and papers, he approved us to move the presentation date to May 12th. Our presentation is going to involve building an installation and live presentation for an audience. With the complexity of my project involving aesthetics, furniture arrangement, and aura, I dont feel that it's a good idea to have the hous opening on the 12th anymore and have been contemplating the 11th or the 13th, but no later or earlier. I'm aiming for the 11th) Of course, I will still be participating in the Alice Yard exhibition on the 12th with Nikki and Andrea to have all of our projects at one moment in time. I want to do an installation to represent the interior design process, but we'll see how it happens as time cruntches.

Adventure Update

2010-05-07T01:53:00.003-04:00

In late April, the group had an opportunity to spend the day with Leroy Clarke at his homes/studios in Port of Spain and Aripo. I was very inspired by our encounter with him and the amazing interior creativity in his living spaces (which also act as museums). Click the image above to view photos of this majestic adventure...

Red Band Maxi: A Reflection

2010-05-06T18:11:00.012-04:00

Red Band Maxi: The Multimedia component of the installation.

My event went fairly smoothly on Monday. I had an unfortunate hiccup when I tried to have my photographs re-printed in St. James due to an unwilling and unknowledgeable supervisor who made the entire process hell, but eventually, I got the prints I needed and scurried over to Alice Yard to set up. Sean Leonard met me there to set up the projector, and shortly after I arrived, Shannon, my maxi driver, arrived with my mobile "gallery." It was a very tight squeeze but Shannon masterfully backed his maxi into Alice Yard the way I had envisioned. With the help of my mother, father, and brother (who all flew in to visit and to see this event), I began mounting my photographs inside the Maxi while Sean found a mixing board andsub woofer for the sound of my video component. Turns out, the Maxi had fewer rows of seats than I originally thought, so I had some extra prints. I ended up putting one print of an interesting ceiling on the ceiling, a print of the inside of this maxi in the rear of this maxi, and put a few prints around the outside of the maxi.

The general feel though, I think, was still achieved, as people had to move about within and around the maxi to view all the photographs. I was also pleased with how the space formed around my piece. Once you walked up the Alice Yard driveway, you were met head-on with this big Maxi and you had to walk around it to get through the space.

If you walked to the right of the Maxi, you would immediately see the projected video on the far wall of the white box. I liked that you couldn't look at the Maxi without hearing the audio of the video, nor could you watch the video without spatially orienting yourself around the Maxi.
I was, however, disappointed that none of my Maxi drivers showed up. A lot of them had told me that they were going to try to come, but that it would be difficult because their attendance would involve skipping out on several hours of work, and many of them simply can't afford to do so. Regardless, I think the event was successful. At the end of the day, I think everyone did end up leaving there with a different perspective of the Maxis -- and hopefully, a greater appreciation for them, as well.

I've posted the images that I printed, as well as photographs of the set-up and the event itself on Flickr. Many of the images of the installation are courtesy of my multi-talented brother, Matthew Wise.

I really enjoy the images my brother produced. I find that in the flattened 2-Dimensional photo representation of the 3-Dimensional world, the 2-D photographs almost become 3-D and create a visual window into another world, as if there are several realities occurring simultaneously within the Maxi at my event.

Security: A Show at Alice Yard

2010-05-06T13:51:00.003-04:00

I will be showing a combination of photographs and stop motion videos, constructing my own ongoing relationship and thoughts about security and boundaries in both it's physical manifestations, and social manifestations.

The show will be held at Alice Yard, at 6:30pm on the 12th of May.

Drawing the Lines

2010-05-03T11:42:00.011-04:00

I’ve been working on creating interior image outlines from real photos through Illustrator. It amazes me how time consuming graphic work can be when trying to be accurate. These drawings have been helpful in deciding color choices for the space, but also in giving me practice in this line of design work because interior designers and architects must spend a lot of time drawing and making models before actually altering the space. The hardest part is being both the designer and the main laborer. I don’t want to get too theoretical/ideal in my designs because I can only do so much manual labor between classes, but I also don’t want to jump into physical decisions before taking time to analyze my reasoning. It’s not easy, but I am not giving up on this project. It is something I feel needs to be done. So a huge thanks to Nathaniel for continuing to work with me and be patient as I learn how to use these programs. The above images are still in process, but looking good, if I may say so.

While painting the staircase the other day, the program director expressed her concerns with my finishing the painting portion in time for the show. She mentioned that the program hires a ‘painting crew’ (one guy and maybe a friend) to paint the building interior. I had no idea a ‘painting crew’ was even an option! Now, I suppose I could blame myself for not asking the right questions, but for some reason she got the impression that I needed to do the work on my own because it’s a project… as if hiring a painting crew would be cheating. Having a crew would actually have been a great investment a few weeks ago because painting large rooms with tall walls was very strenuous and time consuming. The painting portion would have been done long ago! Now, please excuse my rant because I am not looking to place blame anywhere. Contrarily, I enjoy painting interiors- it has just been a struggle on time management and physical exhaustion (especially because I dance twice a week and we are in overtime to prepare for the show in Queen’s Hall on May 21-23). So by time the crew arrived on Friday, I already painted the bottom half of the classroom, most of the poles, and the bars on the windows. In addition, I’ve finished the main entrance doors, painted some tables, and scoped out curtain prices from a local discount store. (Photo below is courtesy of Nathaniel Chambers)

Next on my “To Do List” is to curate the accent wall which we call “rust orange.” For one of the Trinity program courses, the final project is to create something that will teach someone else about our individual experience in Trinidad. So I’m thinking to do photos with captions of various people, places, and objects I’ve become accustom to- then give them all matching frames. I also want to include the pieces of costume, dabla, and other object findings from the house for the wall and give those captions too. It shall be a museum wall for discoveries and learning.

Inspiration for arranging things on the wall and when I curate the physical space will be drawn from experiences at Alice Yard, in helping with set up for the “Proximities” exhibit. The exhibit showcased artist work regarding personal space, gender discussions, and family influence on how they view identity. The videos were shown on various nights and projected onto various surfaces for presentation. It was interesting to watch the process of presenting projections in a yard space. Where will the best angle be? What material can it be projected on? Can the videos be viewed at the same time? Should the people in the video be life-sized or larger-than-life? How much volume is too much sound? What view of the Yard can be seen from the street? How close do we want people to get to the screen and what is the impact of proximity on the viewer? So many questions and only one way to find out: trial and error. It was a long night. Yet, the Alice Yard exhibit was a success.

On another note, I bought a two gallon bucket of Off White paint because I thought the crew was also going to paint the upstairs hallway and office and balcony, but more labor means more cost so that did not happen. I tried to return the paint on Saturday around 3pm because I can always use the money for something else, but apparently the shop closed at 1pm. I truly believe everything happens for a reason and now that the first floor is completed I have some time to consider painting the upstairs hallway and parts of the balcony railing. I really wish I could do something about the flooring up there (like repaint that too) but I have to draw the labor line somewhere soon.

Epiphanies and Explanations

2010-04-30T19:03:00.005-04:00

A late night epiphany, and followed later by more conclusive research has led to my conclusion about the final presentation of my works.

I will be showing prints of my favorite “Security” photographs, that I’ve taken during my time here in Trinidad. I’m hoping to measure the new iron doors to the building at the end of the driveway in Alice Yard, and see if it’s construction, purposely designed as a display area, will work with my prints. This to me, is the most suitable area to show my photographs, as the structure itself is both a door and a gate, and is meant to keep people out of an area as much as it is meant to lead people into an area,

and perhaps display artwork the entire time! I’m going to experiment with having it open, though this picture here shows it shut.

If Jeanika still intends to use the loft space of that building to show case some of her work, and if Andrea would be willing to use the downstairs area of that building, than posting my photographs on the outside would lend a continuity to my display when I use the white box for projection, as the gate/door/display is in the same line of sight, but can also be used to lead viewers to the other two artists’ works.

Now, I’ve been concerned lately that the only portion of my work that this interesting to anyone is this experimental performance/project. I’m not particularly pleased that the only thing people know about my efforts this semester is that I plan to get naked. It’s a little disheartening to realize that the interests and efforts that I’ve put in before hesitantly announcing this other idea are completely ignored, but it’s unfortunately not something I can control. For this reason, I like the idea of prominently displaying my photographs on that gate/door/display area, as it would be an arresting sight, and the first thing that people would see as they walk into the space.

But I can’t devote all my time and energies to those photographs, since I’ve also committed to this performance/project. I am going to project the stop motion videos simultaneously, on different walls

in the white box. Initially, I was concerned that overlapping beams of lights from the projects would skew the image on the walls. While this would be an interesting effect to play with, I’m more invested in projecting three videos at the same time. I like the idea of playing with the concept that a photograph is a specific, single record of a moment in time. I would be bending and playing with this in a way, by projecting three moving images of the same moment.

If I can utilize an artist here, and incorporate external flash, I’d like to figure out the timing in each video so that each flash is projected at the same time, whiting out the space, and then editing the videos so that the three perspectives shift after the white out. This will involve some complications for me, seeing as how my knowledge of iMovie or another other movie making software is rather limited. I do however, think that I can make this work, and am I’m really looking forward to trying!

Rummaging through fabric and prying the lids of some paint buckets has also been fruitful, in light of this performance/project.

I found red, blue and white body paint in the Program House, which, miraculously, are the colors (well, red and blue) that I wanted to work with in the first conceptualization of this performance/project. There is a little more red paint than blue, so I’m thinking of mixing the white and blue for a lighter hue of blue. This works out well, since a big portion of what interests me in regards to the paint is the mixing that will happen on my body and on the fabric.

The fabrics that I found pose some interesting possibilities. I’ve found a lot of an extremely sheer, slightly shiny fabric, cotton sheets, and a mesh, which is similar to the fabric that basketball/athletic shorts are made of. Tomorrow I plan to test the paint on a small sample of each fabric, and to see how layering might effect the look I’m trying to achieve.

This performance/project will be set up in the space that is shown in the following photograph. I will be suspending the sheer cloth to the upper trellis, above the driveway, as a sort of “ceiling,” and will be creating “walls” with the remaining fabrics.

I’m looking to create a visually stunning tunnel of white, which will taper off in size as it approaches the door/gate/display area that I spoke of previously.

I will be sure to document these steps visually tomorrow, as I attempt to realize what so far, has only existed in my mind! Look for those updates Monday.

Four days to go

2010-04-29T19:44:00.008-04:00

It's officially crunch time.

I had my last shoot at the stand in Arima earlier this week. I needed to get those general establishing shots as well as a few specific shots for the opening sequence of the video. Those images have been added to my flickr set.

Update on Multimedia:

My audio track is finally finished. I shouldn't be surprised, but it look me about twice as long as the audio track for the Gina Maingot Essay took. This time, I've worked with layering multiple sounds at a time, so it's an overall much more complicated piece than the last one. I had to layer (and blend as best as possible) tracks from interviews with about 7 different drivers (all outside with differently sounding ambient noises of engines and so forth), a general ambient track for some auditory continuity throughout (a plain engine running), my own voice, as well as different specific sounds associated with Maxis. Structurally, it's just about the way I explained in my last post, although I modified the plan a bit each time I thought I was "finished" to make it flow more. I would post a link to the track here, but I think it'll be more fun to wait to post it until I've layered my images on top. In it's place, here are a few screen shots of the working process in Audacity.
This is about the first third of the track. Each short clip is a separate sound clip, so the track plays from left to right, piling each clip on top of one another at the appropriate time. You adjust the volume level that each clip is played relative to one another by adjusting the amplitude (height) of the clip. So, for example, the clip fourth from the top starts relatively loud, then fades to be much quieter for a while, gets louder at a few points, then stays almost inaudible for the rest of the duration of the track, except for near the very end. I've actually had quite a bit of fun getting acquainted with Audacity this semester. It's a lot more user-friendly than I was expected, and it is very powerful in its capabilities, especially for a free program.
Now I'm on the step of finishing processing and re-sizing all of my images for soundslides and then importing them into soundslides. Then I'll just have to adjust the timing and transitions of each image as it relates to the soundtrack, and I'll be done! Here's another screenshot of that process.

Here, the timing of the mp3 audio track that I just imported is noted towards the bottom of the track. There are thumbnails of all the photos that have been imported so far, in the order that they appear, in the body of the screen. At the bottom, you can drag the image markers to determine when each slide appears and when it switches to the next slide (there are other, more precise ways to do this, by going into the "Slide Info" tab but this way works, too). Transitions and slide movement are controlled in the "Movement" subsection within the "Slide Info" tab.

Printed photographs:

I made my selection of 18 photographs to print for the show, re-sized them all for 8"x12" and walked over to a newly opened photo printing place a few blocks from our apartments with a thumb drive and a Linx card. Unfortunately, the test print was the worst looking photo print I've ever seen. The sky was an artificial hypersaturated crayon blue, the entire imagine was low resolution, the reds tended towards an orange hue, the image itself was warped (the white border around the image -- since they had to print on larger paper and then cut down) was even at the bottom but uneven on the top edge, and worst of all, the printer left physically scratched in track marks across the entire photograph on several areas of the image. They were, however, friendly enough to not charge me for that test print when I ran out of that place as fast as I could. I've found another printing place, though, and will be heading over there tomorrow morning before my weekly meeting with Mark Lyndersay. I spoke to the folks at Photo World in St. James, this afternoon, and they'll be able to print my 18 photographs at 8"x12" in time for me to pick them up after I meet with Mark.

So that's where I'm at. I'm trying to finish my "first draft" of the final multimedia piece tonight so I can hear Mark Lyndersay's feedback on it at tomorrow's meeting and then still have time this weekend for revisions, but realistically, it's probably going to take me another day to finish it.

2 Locks to 6 Locks and lots of learning in the meantime!

2010-04-28T22:24:00.010-04:00

In preparation for documenting my upcoming performance/project experiment, with the goal of creating a stop motion video with stills taken from that night, I've been practicing.

I'm slowly teaching myself how to use iMovie for this project.

As I posted last time, the first stop motion video that I made is called 2 Locks, and is a quick documentation of how I get in and out of my apartment.

This time, I've gone a little bit further, and included Jeanika in my experimenting! Together, we documented the arduous task of going from inside her apartment, to the Program House, where she is working on the interior space. That's through six locks people.

So behold, 6 Locks.

I have increased the time of each frame, from 0:03 seconds each in 2 Locks, to 0:05 seconds in 6 Locks. There is a discernible difference in my opinion, but it is still fast enough to really feel the movements.

Right now, the process is not overly complicated. Thank you Apple, for streamlining your programs! Uploading photos into iPhoto allows for easy access by roll in iMovie. Adding photographs to a movie project is done by clicking on "Media" and then selecting the stills by roll. So far, I've been able to add each roll, which places them in chronological order by title. The most editing that I have done to each movie is deleting a few stills that are too repetitive, or pieces that are too distracting. For example, while Jeanika is crossing the street, she paused, and a large black truck hurtled by, showing up significantly in just one frame. This was a large distracting black flash in the final product, so I deleted the frame. I've also been playing around with the duration of each image, seeing whether or not I liked to focus on each lock for example, by keeping one frame, or a build up to the lock frame, slightly longer than the others. It didn't look right, and ruined the continuity of the motion, so I left well enough alone, and so far each frame is shown for an equal amount of time, with the exception of one frame in "6 Locks." In "6 Locks," the last frame is held for twice as long as the rest.

Unfortunately, one of the issues that I'm having currently, in posting videos to Youtube, is that it cuts out the last five frames or so, essentially deleting the closing shots that I took. This is annoying, and I am hoping to upload the videos to Flickr (I had forgotten that a Pro account allows for video uploading until I uploaded the stills in this post!) and see if that hosting site allows for the full video.

The videos uploaded to Flickr are: "2 Locks" and "6 Locks" (Flickr shows the whole video! See the last few shots at the end of each one on Flickr!)

The quality of the posted videos is another kink I have to work through. I learned how to convert iMovie projects into QuickTime compatible files via this youtube video, and following these directions leads to a small viewing size, which pixelates and distorts with any magnification. However, when I attempted to leave the quality as I view it on my screen, youtube kindly informed me that it would take around 8,945 minutes (give or take) to upload. I quickly cancelled that for the sake of time and the browser speed of the rest of my Safari tabs, and uploaded the smaller version instead.

I've also been contacting the various artists and friends that I've met (and some I haven't met!) since coming to Trinidad to ask (beg?) for help in one part of my final project. It's this performance/project. I'm inexperienced with a number of aspects of this project, so I'm enlisting in all the help I can get! I've gotten kind words already, lots of help from Sean Leonard who has kindly scheduled me into the space for some of this coming Saturday, and all of this coming Sunday.

On my agenda yet is fabric shopping or scavenging, and paint evaluation and potentially shopping. In Jeanika's explorations of the program house, she found around 6 half gallon containers of the body paint that I was planning on using. While they are not the colors I had in mind (black and white), I'm willing to use red and blue in order to save money. However, I haven't checked on the quality and quantity left over yet, and am hoping to find full pristine paint, rather than dried out dredges! Additionally, she had found a large amount of fabric, and I'm hoping that a second go-through will yield some extra white sheets!

That's all for now, but I'm very happy with the progress that I'm making!

The Classroom. Our House. My Home.

2010-04-27T09:52:00.007-04:00

For our Program House class sessions with Tony Hall, I thought it would be interesting to rearrange the tables into a different layout. Usually the tables can be found in the middle of the room next to each other (by short side) or put away and we sit in a circle with chairs. For me, it’s a struggle to write in my notebook while it’s on my lap so most of us don’t take notes at all. So I started to experiment layouts with the available furniture.

Intervention 0: Following an evening social event, the couches were already arranged in a living room style, facing the television. The long couch acted as a room divider and was backed by a long fold-out table with a few chairs near to the entrance. I wondered what class would be like in an informal living room setting and contemplated moving the couches to face the blank wall with the white board rather than the television set. I was given permission from the directors to leave the setup for the Wednesday class, but Tony Hall disagreed and removed the tables completely, fixing the sturdy blue chairs in the usual large circle. Two program students later mentioned that the couch setting would have been too comfortable anyway and they wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on the lecture. This prompted the question: What is more important, comfort or effectiveness? Should a classroom have a balance of both? Is this factor decided by the user or the environment?

[The image above was made in Illustrator. It took the time and patience of my friend Nathaniel, a Trinidadian graphic design student, to teach me how to use the program to this extent. I will also be experiementing in photoshop and learning the uses of Picasa to complete this project.]

Intervention 1: So for the next session, I put the tables together by long sides to form a square in the typical college “round table” discussion style. This would allow us a surface to write on, equal view of the professor and the white board, and the ability to communicate more effectively with each other. There are plenty of windows to light the setting and enough table space and chairs to accommodate the group. It look much more like classrooms we were used to at home and I thought it would lead to more intellectual and intimate discussion. The couch was turned away from the classroom to act as a room divider again, but made it seem like the entrance came into a living room.

What actually happened during the class struck as powerful and unusual.

This class was the first time Tony Hall used the physicality of the classroom layout to transition into a topic for class discussion, which happened to be about the oppressed, the oppressor, emancipation from mental slavery, and cultural mind sets. In other words, this more institutional setting changed Tony’s class lesson approach to one more strained, trapped, and defensive. It was as if the arrangement was equivalent to some type of human bondage- which I was definitely not expecting. He noted that the setting was good for a university class where debate is preferred, but not for his course in Trinidad, where the object is creativity rather than attacking ideas and defending mindset positions… or at least, that’s what I understood from the high-powered class. I’ve never seen participants become so vulnerable or hear voices rise in dual argument or felt such sarcasm tension the conversation. I never knew a table arrangement could do that to such a group of intellectuals and learners. I ended up staying very objective from the arguments, simply taking in the mood of the moment and questioning my role in the tension. Who was to blame for the outcome? Why did this setting impact the student-professor relationship so strongly?

Intervention 2: The following week I thought it best to find a hybrid of the two configurations, to give equal view to each other and keep the focus on the professor. I did not like how the “college setting” affected the mindsets of everyone in the class and I suppose it makes sense why the clearly institutional setting was unsuccessful in our multi-use house anyway. The classroom cannot be informal or too serious. So the tables took on an “L” shape facing the blank wall. I pushed the long couch closer to the entrance to give more space for movement, but kept it as a room divider, backing the class. The smallest couch (one person) joined the blank wall as a focal point and the large table for the professor was replaced with the smaller one from the kitchen to prop the white board against, but not take up as much space. Can I create a classroom to please everyone?

When Tony Hall arrived, he looked at the formation and unassembled the tables himself. Of course, I quickly snatched up my notebook and began to ask him questions about this decision. “What is wrong with this formation?” “Why do tables make you feel trapped or constrained in the space?” “Why did the ‘college-style arrangement’ change your lecture approach?” His response was not what I expected to hear and yet…I was not surprised either. He explained that the configuration changes the lesson because of how people are forced to be in a space. Having the tables in a square encourages opinionated conversation and people play minds games because o vulnerability. In class, students are supposed to experience and consider thought while in the space, not attack me for the statements I am suggesting. I would prefer not to talk at all. So the only way to create a different mindset this week is to completely change the setup because there are politics about the self we can’t even comprehend, especially not in an institutional setting. It was a lot to take in.

So when class began he sat in the small couch, palms down on the armrests, and takes a few minutes to gather his thoughts about what to do next. He asks us to take time to breathe and create “create space within the silence”. That was an interesting notion to contemplate. Then we suggested words and phrases which were inspired by our journeys in Trinidad. Words like “heritage,” “music,” “boundaries,” and “change.” Later we learned that the activity for the class session was to find a space within the house to create something… anything… related to or inspired by the words suggested before. (Given that the house is in a state of ‘remodeling,’ I was thrilled to see how people were going to use the space) Some students made posters, some created costumes for themselves from things found, Andrea taped off a doorway, posting phrases to answer the question “What would you do if the world was going to end tomorrow?” and I created a journey about learning throughout life by using dishes and found objects (locks, screws, money, chains, utensils, etc) along the countertop. Nikki made a paper blindfold with ear covers to continue on the notion of creating your own silence within the space. It then occurred to me how much deeper versatility of the space is to the objects in it. It’s not just about the tables and couches. It’s not just about the wall colors and fabric textures. It’s about individual connection between the all-encompassing idea of the ‘House’ itself and the generations of users.

How can I make this House timeless? How can I make this House a home for everyone and is it possible to do that? Where does “home” begin and end? Where does my part stop?

Clarke, Experimenting and 2 Locks

2010-04-26T17:00:00.002-04:00

Leroy Clary has created a home to display his works, and in that endeavor, an interesting combination of conventional and artistic exhibition. I was able to witness this during a trip to both his house/museum in St. Ann, and in his studio/home spaces in Aripo. With this experience in the back of my mind, I turned to Boris Groys’ “Politics of Installation.”

Groys insists that “the installation transforms the empty, neutral, public space into an individual artwork—and it invites the visitor to experience this space as the holistic, totalizing space of an artwork. Anything included in such a space becomes a part of the artwork simply because it is placed inside this space.” Furthermore, “what becomes crucial is the distinction between a marked, installation space and unmarked, public space.”

However, previously, Groys also states that “the only function of such a [public] space is to make the art objects that are placed within it easily accessible to the gaze of the visitors.”

In this way, Clarke’s house, with the ambiguity of private and public, yet acutely contrived as an exhibition space with an emphasis on a workable living arrangement was unlike anything I have ever witnessed, as it combined Groys’ two concepts.

And I found it unnerving. How could one live within a tribute to one’s life’s works? Does doing that fatalistically determine the end of a career? Is it a certain type of pragmatism that allows for an artist to collect and create their own masterful tribute to their life’s dream?

These thoughts, and more around my own artwork, claimed my weekend.

In Groys’ work, I also made reference to my own body of work around the concept of “security.” Groys states that “art’s function is… to make visible the realities that are generally overlooked.” This reason, beyond my own convictions surrounding freedom and security substantiated my near obsessive concentration around boundaries, borders and security, and their physical manifestations of locks, gates, walls, shrubbery, windows and doors, gives more substance to my experimentations planned for this weekend.

As previously discussed, I am going far and beyond my own areas of passable expertise to create an experimental performance/project based on my thoughts surrounding my introspection around security. As the days draw nearer, I am reaching out to some artists that are currently working in Trinidad for some semblance of guidance and transference of advice. However, most of my invitations to these artists have been after weeks of no contact following a single meeting, or out of the blue with a quick mention of my connection to Christopher Cozier.

Due to this, and my relative inexperience, I don’t know what to expect of my experience for this performance/project. I still need to purchase fabric, though I think I’ve procured enough paint via the scavenging of Jeankia’s Program House Project.

What I don’t have is the upmost confidence in my ‘vision,’ which I am not currently viewing as destructive, but rather as constructive. If I don’t have a very clear idea of my end results, I can’t go wrong!

What I’m hoping to get is a rudimentary portrayal of my feelings surrounding security, and great big learning experience!

The final showing will be on May 12^th at Alice Yard, in Woodbrook. Come one, come all.

And before then, help this neophyte out in any way you can imagine! Maybe, you’d like to help by providing insight to iMovie. I’ve created my first, very simple video on iMovie, called 2 Locks, which I’ve posted HERE. I’ve got the (VERY) basic skills to make the video! Now it’s a matter of (time permitting) practice and dedication, and YOU!

T minus 8 days

2010-04-25T21:41:00.005-04:00

So, my maxi exhibit/installation is in eight days. This is the homestretch and the final scramble to get everything together in time.

Multimedia piece:

I went over the soundtrack I had with Mark Lyndersay this past Friday. He helped me sort of group the components of my story in a more logical way, and helped guide me towards a re-organization of those components so that my multimedia will follow cogent narrative. This, however, has required a complete reworking of the soundtrack I had. I've been working on it all weekend and it's almost finished. The story should run as follows:

1. Introduction: Maxi Driver 1 talking about how there's so much you can find if you look into the Maxi Taxis. Establishing shots of Maxis and Drivers. Introduce maxi stand in Arima with Maxi Driver 2 joking about how this (Arima Stand) is the "original stand" and all others are "counterfeit. Establishing shots of Arima Maxi stand.
2. Identity: Maxi Drivers telling about how their Maxi names reflect elements of their identity (spirituality, etc.) accompanied by visuals of the vehicles and their drivers.
3. Details: My own narration of noticing various interesting details in different Maxis accompanied by those detail shots.
4. Conclusion: Maxi Driver 1 (from Introduction) talking about how the Maxis are one of the few reliable things in Trinidad accompanied by shots of Maxi stand during rush hour (people entering, exiting..)

In mapping out the flow of my story, as anticipated, I have found some holes in my image set. First of all, I need more broad establishing shots of the Maxi stand in Arima. I need to give the viewer a visual sense of where this story fits into the community before I place them inside the story with shots of specific vehicles and drivers. I also need to try to find some of the specific maxis that will be featured in the "Identity" section to shoot more. In order to avoid confusing the viewer, I need to present each maxi in the same way (ex. Wide shot of entire Maxi, followed by close up of the name, followed by image of maxi with driver). However I chose to go about that, I need to be consistent so I don't confuse my viewer. Lastly, I need pictures of the stand during rush hour! I've been purposefully shooting during off-peak hours so that I can catch my drivers when they have time to talk to me, but I need to have visuals to depict the reality of the crazy busy madness that the daily morning and afternoon commute entails for these guys.

Logistics for the exhibit:

I have lighting covered with the battery powered stick-on LED lights I purchased in Florida. Now what's left is to figure out how to project the multimedia (and where) and how to play the audio track. I know that Alice Yard has a projector and speakers, but I need to make sure I talk to Christopher Cozier and Sean Leonard tomorrow to be sure that they'll be available for my exhibit. I think it'll make sense to just project the multimedia piece into the white wall of the small gallery space at Alice Yard, while the Maxi (with photographs mounted on the backs of the seats) stands imposingly in the rest of the yard space. This way, when you walk into Alice Yard, you're immediately faced with this Maxi in your way (which achieves the effect I'm looking for, of forcing people to acknowledge and interact with the Maxi), but the entire space will also be filled with the audio track of the multimedia piece. Since the multimedia is really serving as an accompaniment and an explanation of the images, I'll be alright for that to run visually somewhat separately from the Maxi itself. Other than that, I just need to call my Maxi Driver, Shannon, next week to triple check that he's coming and bringing his vehicle with him.

As I said last time, there's still so much work, but each time I post on here, I see it all coming together more fully.

Oh! I almost forgot! This past weekend, we were fortunately enough to meet with the incredible artist, Leroy Clarke at his home/personal museum/studio spaces in St. Ann's and in Aripo. Turns out, he knows Mark Lyndersay's work, so I told him that Mark Lyndersay has also been mentoring me this semester in my photography project. I told him about the exhibit and he asked me to call him to remind him to come! It'd be really really cool if he can make it, especially in adding to the diversity of the more-art-inclined/less-art-inclined crowd at my event.

The Soucouyant: Presentation of Movement and Embodiment

2010-04-23T22:54:00.005-04:00

Last Thursday I participated in a friend’s mas costume presentation for her class (photo courtesy of Joseph Bertrand). It was not something I could really prepare for but I showed up and continued to be surprised that day. Her costume was in honor of “Soucouyant” (pronounced: soo-coo-yah),a fire woman from folklore. After doing some research, I learned that the Caribbean character is actually an old woman by day [Apparently, she can be in other animal forms too] but a skinless fireball by night. She gets into homes via cracks or holes and sucks the blood from humans, taking on the skin of her victim if killed. If salt is thrown on her forgotten skins then she will be destroyed upon trying to re-enter it. There are some written accounts of people encountering the fireball woman, but it is generally known as a Caribbean legend, which is still told in Trinidad.

So the costume I wore for the presentation focused on a grand headpiece to illustrate the character. This included a set of chief feathers, round cage with cardboard flame drawings attached, and was topped with blinking devil horns. The chief-like Mohawk of feathers represented the personality of this specific version to be a warrior. Besides the sports bra and spandex shorts, I had some black paint smeared on my body, and heavy costume makeup on my face. The makeup seemed to resemble a mask, raising my eyebrows an inch above and enlarging my lips. The makeup was a great addition to the headpiece, and I think made all the difference in how my face was to be received by the audience, and hence the costume's effectiveness.

The most demanding part of my participation was the improvisation of a presentation for the class. Given that her costume involved an intricate headpiece, elaborate costume makeup, and little skin covering, I had to bring the rest of the body to life. Of course I did not know all this research before the performance so I only had her advice to work with. She reminded me to stay low to move fluid, look like I’m mad or want to eat the people in the class, and to hiss while saying “Soucouyant” at various speeds or pitches. She asked if I knew “how to be possessed” on the morning of the performance. So I bent, hissed, crawled, glared, and strutted around the classroom, hoping to give the best portrayal of her costume that she wanted. At that moment of immediate encounter, I had to give myself over to the character... or at least the little understanding of it. I had to actually be angry and really glare and scream at the top of my lungs because there is no such thing as ‘pretending’ in improvisation. I did not do a skit because it was not rehearsed and I did not do a dance, but I would call it a presentation of movement and embodiment.

This must be the definition of “mas” in Trinidad when Carnival was thriving. People take on the character of “mas” or their individual traditional characters so deeply that it becomes a second personality. “Mas” being short for “masquerade” is more profound than just wearing the mask.

The best part was not being allowed to wear my glasses for the presentation (photo courtesy of Andrea L. S. Wise). Not only could I not see the floor (in addition to the cage around my head) but I couldn’t see the people in the classroom to read their facial reactions. This made me very internalized on exaggerating the movements and making the effort to make contact with every figure I could make out. I did not even know that I screamed at the professor until after the class was over! It was a great experience to do something so blindly: without knowledge of the folklore details and without my glasses. It is even more valuable to research and reflect on a cultural aspect I knew nothing about before this experience.

Final Project Ruminations

2010-04-23T13:58:00.001-04:00

I’ve been thinking more on my final ideas for a project/performance and showing for the Alice Yard space to showcase my artistic efforts and growth through Christopher Cozier’s and my overall experience of Trinidad.

In our classes, we’ve been discussing the upcoming Proximities (http://aliceyard.blogspot.com/2010/04/proximities.html). One film being shown is Still from Que Te Vaya Bonito (2007), by Ivan Monforte. In speaking about this work, I was fortunate to be part of a discussion pertaining to performance. This is especially important to me, as I intend to have a performance piece attached to my final showing at Alice Yard. However, what caught my attention was the fact that Monforte chooses to call his works “emotional sculpture.” Rather than identifying with performance, I am more and more interrogating this idea.

With a few similarities between intent, I choose to make this intellectual journey. First of all, I’ve never done a “performance” in this way. I don’t dance. While this is no distinction to make, all things considered, it has played into my own ideas of possibilities and securities about the project. I feel, in borrowing the concept of “emotional sculpture” from Monforte, the comfort in purposefully policing the space of my artistic endeavor. I don’t mean to produce pornography, despite being nude. I actually cannot even predict what the final outcome of this experiment will be, but looking at the project through the scope of “emotional sculpture” has helped to alter my self-perceptions and feelings of safety and comfort, which are incredibly related to my subject matter.

I want to create a space to perform or sculpt that is bereft of an initial audience. In this, I do not wish to be catcalled, have a clapping audience, or the feeling that this is all for show, and not true to my feelings and improvisational motives. I haven’t planned a routine, and I can only guess at how the planned photography will actually come together. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to get naked. All of these things, to me, create the possibilities of recording a baser truth to my reactions and movements, partially in line with the concept of “emotional sculpture.”

I want to limit the spectacle of nude dancing by creating, in the photographic stills film, a distance between the viewers that is challenged by my body narrative.

This has been a very intense way for me to approach looking at locks and borders and boundaries, but beyond that, or perhaps through that new viewpoint, I have been able to more thoroughly explore my own bodily boundaries, constructed limitations, and the unique possibilities that my standpoint can present.

Looking Brighter with Buccoo and Bone White

2010-04-20T15:53:00.005-04:00

The most recent update is the installation of a new countertop laminate in the kitchen (shown is the old counter during construction). Although it is not the original one I wanted, I am pleased with the quality, color, and price. So thanks to Asia for the labor help, the kitchen is now Buccoo green with cabinets and accents in Bone white. The laminate was the last piece of the installation because half of the wood needed to be replaced due to termite infestation. I love the new, clean look! I think the doorknobs still need to be painted in white to match the counter’s molding and I have begun to organize dishes by sets and color for the open shelves above the counter. Of course, everything takes time and the walls still need a second coat, but things are looking brighter for this room.

Here are some quick chalk pastel drawings I felt inspired to do when trying to balance colors and loosen up about the architectural structure. These are not to scale, of course, but straight from my memory of the spacing and projected color hues. The top image was drawn first and depicts the under-the-staircase nook with kitchen doorway, whereas the lower picture is of the classroom with left exit to the kitchen's second doorway.

Boundaries in the "family" and performance thoughts/anxieties

2010-04-18T20:28:00.005-04:00

I recently attended a movie night of documentaries surrounding the lives of LGBT people in the Caribbean. While a discussion of the films should be left to another venue, I do want to discuss the space here, given the amount of time I spent thinking about boundaries while there.

In Trinidad, the LGBT community is necessarily private, which means loads of constructed boundaries to keep sexuality hidden from those outside of the “family.” This was no surprise to me, and frankly is similarly present in many areas of the States, and particularly obvious at Trinity College, at some times. But I digress, as I was hoping to more specifically touch on the physical as it relates to the social. This location, while named on the Facebook invitation, and website and list-serve, has no specific physical location, beyond the street name. I spent a lot of time searching online for the number, and eventually found it in an old internet archive for an event held there. So already I had encountered the discretion of location.

With this in mind, I wasn’t surprised to see that I would not have been able to pick out the building if I hadn’t found the number online. It was a house like any other, only really distinguished by a few people liming out by the gate. So I timidly asked if this is where the movies are showing, and was answered in the affirmative. I walked down the driveway, and rather than going into the house, I passed through a set of two gates, off set so that you had to zigzag in, and also serving to hide the yard from the street. All these boundaries, to hide and protect, and to camouflage the relatively huge yard area from the rest of the world.

And even once inside, it was dark, with only a few little mood lights to light the yard. So the high, off set gates, normal house as a facade, and the unmarked and locked gates really served to physically mark the social aspect that is apparently necessary to create a safe space for a prosecuted social group.

Also this past week, I had a great conversation with Daniella Carrington about my final project, and more specifically, about the performance aspect.

Talking to a stranger about my ideas required me to really explain what was happening in my head, and brought to light a few points that I hadn’t yet articulated about my connections to my idea, and my relationship to locks and boundaries and security.

I’m more cognizant of locks and walls and barred windows and razor wire, partially due to this project, but primarily because I chaff at the thought of being bound and separated, be it physically and literally, or stereotyped into a certain role, sexuality, race or class group.

In talking about nudity and dancing too, I realized part of why I am invested in nakedness for the project. So often, nakedness is used as a boundary and security for exotic dancers and sex workers, and the act of getting naked is an act devoid of any real sense of revealing the self.

I also really connected with Daniella’s idea that sex is closely tied to you as a person. I whole-heartedly agree with this statement, and also find this to be a reason why I’m very much devoted to the sexual aspects of security and boundary, but also why I’m very nervous about sharing that part of myself beyond a sexual partner, on such a large yet still intimate scale in Alice Yard.

In addition, we spoke about the notion that Trinis have a rather schizophrenic view of sex and sexuality. Carnival is a very sexual time, rife with the physical and social aspects of displaying one’s body and sexuality, all in the abandonment of the public scene of bacchanal. It is this idea that also makes me nervous about putting myself out there, both in being naked, and in the script that I have prepared for my still video compilation.

Will the issues that I raise resound at all, if notions of gender and sexuality that I have are not present in this society to the same degree as my socialization? Will my performance read in a way entirely different that I’m trying to present? Will it be too heavy handed? Will the performance aspect connect in the audience’s mind to the photographs of security measures?

With these questions in mind too, I’ve been thinking about how best to create a space in which I can be part of a discussion on my work. I’m not so sure what will be raised, but that is certainly why I’m interested in providing either some sort of discussion, or comment area. Since I’m still working through all of these things myself, I’d be really interested in hearing how other people react!

New layers to the Maxi Taxi story

2010-04-16T11:41:00.005-04:00

As I wrote in my last post, the more I talk to Maxi drivers, the more layers I find to this Maxi Taxi story. There's expression of religion, and I've already seen five faiths represented in Maxi names (Judaism, Christianity, Hindhuism, Hare Krishna, and Islam). There are names of Maxis that I assumed were statements of egotism but are actually statements of spirituality (ex. The Great One referring not to the driver, but to God). There are names that have deeply personal meanings to the drivers, and likely little to no meaning to anyone else. There are drivers whose main concern in naming their vehicle is that passengers be able to remember the vehicle so they can retrieve lost items (like a cell phone or keys). There are also drivers who do not name their vehicles because they wish not to be identified. There's concern over job security as the government continues to talk about building a rapid rail train from Port of Spain to Arima, which would run the very route that my drivers run. There's a feeling that the laws, meant at cracking down on some hazards, are stifling the creative expression of drivers.

In fact, I've been learning so much about the dynamic Maxi sub-culture, that I'm not really sure how to pull it all together into a logical narrative. I want to present my exploration of Maxi culture, but I want to present it in a way that flows sensibly, and doesn't feel discombobulated and disorganized. I think the best solution is to try to do another short multimedia narrative, including photographs, audio interviews with drivers, and a third track of my own voice narrating. This was my original idea, but I abandoned it when I thought I wouldn't have enough time to gather my materials. After talking to Mark Lyndersay, however, we agreed that the very process of organizing my captured media for a multimedia narrative will help me organize my thoughts, and ultimately, help me see a sensible way to select and present my still prints. I know that I will have to touch at least on the spiritual expressions, the motivations for naming vehicles, as well as a bit about the current controversy surrounding the rapid rail.

So that's where I am in this process right now. I have about 40 still images that I like so far, some stronger relationships, and interviews with about ten different drivers. I have enough captured raw media to start compiling a multimedia, but I need to really get a move on that. There's not very much time left before my show, and I'm sure that as I work through the multimedia, I'll discover places where I'm missing some element of the story, and I want to have enough time to go out and ask those questions and take those photographs to fill in the gaps.

Other than that, a few technical nitty-gritty details about the final show:

1. Lighting: I was traveling to Florida for the weekend and picked up several LED stick-on push-button lights from Target to light the interior of the Maxi. Since my show will be at night time, I imagine I'll need about one of these lights to stick onto the roof of the vehicle to light the images, and then I got a few larger, softer lights of the same style to stick to the isles of the Maxi. Hopefully, those will work out to provide enough light to view the images.

2. Promotional cards: I started handing out the promo cards that I wrote about in my last post, and so far, they seem to be having the effect I'm looking for. Drivers who I've spoken to before seemed happy to see a little legitimacy to my claims that this is a project that I'll be exhibiting in Port of Spain in May, and drivers that I hadn't met previously seemed more excited about helping me out once I handed them one of the cards. A few guys even asked me for some extras so they could hand them out to their friends. I really just hope that they'll be able to make it.

3. Press: I've spoken to Ms. Sunity Maharaj-Best, a journalist who works closely with our program, who is very well connected to the media in Trinidad and Tobago, and she's going to try to see if some of her friends in the media can come to my show. My thinking is that if a bunch of Maxi drivers show up, the show itself could serve as a good venue for some conversations about the impact of the rapid rail on my friends in the Maxi industry. I think it would make a good human interest story and could encourage decision-makers in Trinidad to consider the impact on the Maxi drivers, which I imagine, they haven't really been thinking about.

My vision for the final showing is starting to clear up, and I'm getting more and more excited to see how it turns out. There's still a ton of work I need to do to prepare, but I think if I manage to pull it all off, it'll be one of the most rewarding photography projects I've done thus far.

My most recent Maxi photographs have been added to my red band maxi photo set on flickr.

Re-Arrangements: Spatial Intervention

2010-04-12T19:44:00.006-04:00

There is something really challenging about trying to arrange this Program House space which my mind has yet to comprehend. The house is made of limited rooms and can be such a versatile building depending on the day of the week. So recently I reminded myself that my job is not to stage the furniture where it looks best for the showcase, but to observe furniture functionality within the space and how users interact with it and each other. Whether this means parties, movie nights, formal class, or community cooking, the space needs to remain transformable and secondly, be aesthetically pleasing. In this case, the space itself needs to tell me the story to narrate.

So after speaking with Sean Leonard again last week, I felt encouraged to try experimenting with the furniture placements in the space. What if the couch was in a different place? What if there was a table beneath the stairs? What if the computer changed angles? Where else could this book shelf go? While some would say it smart to make a model of the place or to measure/draw out exact measurements of the dimensions for every corner and inventory objects, I felt it best to just … do it. By Friday night the computer backed the bookshelf, both splitting the room between the nook area and classroom/entrance area, the couches squared around the television in a living room setting, the large pillows from the nook went up to the balcony and all the balcony chairs lined the window by the lower entrance. It was interesting to see the placement in action when we had a mini social event with games on the fold-out tables and chatting happening on the couches (no one even turned in the television). The evening closed with all attendees on the balcony “liming,” falling asleep, and laughing into the night. I look forward to another arrangement surprise this week!

Vander (another program student and very helpful friend) and I also found ourselves wandering a few blocks around the local neighborhood to see what materials are actually available to use. There are several hardware stores for paint, tools, etc, as well as a major furniture store where we found furniture sets, chairs, appliances, rugs, and more. So I have a visual measurement of what I want to happen. I got the painting tools, measuring tape, prices for some cabinet knobs and took note of other small things. While I want this place to gain a more homey feeling, I also know that it is an institutional building with many academic purposes and needs to be functional for years of program participants to come.

In observing how people use the space, and how I wish the building could be used, Nikki also mentioned that I should try to photograph people using the space in various ways. It would be interesting to note how its uses change with the day of the week or if my physical arrangement impacts how it is used. I’ve even gotten permission to leave the ‘living room’ couch set up for class on Wednesday, so we’ll see how the arrangement changes the classroom environment and group dynamics.

Last Friday I also got to meet the ‘cleaning lady’ and volunteered my afternoon to help her out. From the fridge, to the found shelves, to patio chairs, and moping, we cleaned everything in sight. She had some great ideas on how to improve the space too and mentioned how she has seen it used in the past. I look forward to helping her again this week and with the floor-waxing process in May. Would my alterations to the house change her duties? Even though we are the ones to use the house, whose responsibility is it really to take care of the place?

Leafy Boundaries, and Where Does It All End?

2010-04-10T13:39:00.005-04:00

This boundaries/security project is so interesting, because once I start out looking to see boundaries and methods of security, I find SO much more.

My mother visited this weekend, and we went on a long hike from Brasso Seco Paria to Blanchisseuse. I brought my camera along for the trip, but decided at the last minute not to carry it, based on it’s weight, and the fact that we would be stopping at multiple water sources and a sandy beach. However, with my mind already tuned to look for boundaries, I discovered a whole new type of boundary that had been all around me, that I wasn’t able to see.

Cristo Adonis, our guide for the day hike, told me, as I explained my interest and focus on boundaries, that property was once marked by one specific colorful bush. In this way, these plants were planted at the edge of a person’s property, and denoted the boundary between lands. And here I thought they were just a popular shrub in this country! These plants are all over Trinidad, and while property borders are also recorded on deeds and will all other manners of physical demarcation that I’ve been photographing, the significance of these bushes as a specific boundary is now clear.

In this way though, I am now considering how plants are used as a form of security and boundary. Large, imposing hedges sometimes do more to deter a breech than a low wall, and I’m looking to such examples for more inspiration.

It is really exciting for me to see how this concept of security has expanded already, and I’m anticipating even more growth of my outlook.

Googling “boundaries” brings up a plethora of sites devoted to creating, strengthening and declaring personal boundaries. Images for “security” send me lots of locks, and a few symbols of police forces. Searching with these two words in the photographic sharing database Flickr sends me to a few photos of walls, but then, more often, to photographs of individuals.

And these photos of people take me back to another incident from my mother’s stay. I am fairly heavily bodily decorated, with piercings and two tattoos. My mother constructs these body modifications as boundaries, and methods to garner interest and comments, but maintain distance from “regular” people looking at me. This is a very simple reading of a conversation we had together, but at it’s most simplistic, tattoos and piercings, to some, can also be constructed as a boundary.

With this train of thought, it’s hard not to see EVERYTHING as some method of creating boundaries and security. A friend of mine jokingly calls sunglasses “hater blockers” but this could actually be used seriously to argue that even sunglasses prove to be a form of separation and boundary.

So as you can well tell by now, this concept of security and of boundaries has become a consuming exploration, which changes the way I’m seeing everything. I’d like to figure out ways to more clearly state with images the reasoning behind displaying it as a boundary or security method, but I’m also quite curious to see how individuals viewing some of the images agree or disagree with my categorization.

RED BAND MAXI

2010-04-08T00:49:00.008-04:00

I just finished making these little guys, 2" x 3" promo/invites for my final Maxi Taxi show. I've still got a lot of work to do by way of more visits to the taxi stand in Arima to meet more drivers and take more photographs, but I'm off to a good enough start, and have met enough drivers who want information about my show, that I need to start going back with something to hand out as a "formal" invitation. All these guys are being really generous and friendly to me, letting me photograph them, and letting me photograph their Maxis and giving me time to interview them and ask questions. I've been learning a lot. Many drivers are really shy about their Maxis. For some people, their vehicles are sort of an extension of themselves, so the same way you might be shy having your photograph taken, they are shy to have their Maxi's photograph taken. Other drivers are really proud of their vehicle and are eager to have their vehicle photographed. I've been learning more about the decisions that go into designing your Maxi. Some people don't own the vehicle they drive, and thus have no control over the design of their vehicle. Other people own the vehicle, but chose to leave the existing designs as is. Other people consciously chose to keep their vehicle bare, not wanting to be "marked" in the event that something happens. What I've been finding is that the more I let go of trying to "get" what I'm "looking for," the more I'm finding out about Maxi culture in general. I've stopped going to the stand with the intention of getting particular shots, and instead have adopted a more open attitude. I'm going looking for encounters, and looking for people, so I can see what emerges out of that, and my camera is only there for evidence.

So in considering how much I've been getting from these guys (knowledge, time, material for an exhibit, hopefully a good grade **wink wink**, etc.) I started thinking about how to give some of that back. So here's my plan (I've just realized how often I make lists on this blog... forgive me):

1. Hand out these little promo/invite cards every time I go shoot at the Maxi stand, starting next week (when I can get them printed). Since I'm already seeing familiar faces and word is spreading around the stand about who I am and what I'm doing, I figure if I give these cards out twice a week for the next 3 weeks before my show, word will get around, and hopefully (at least) the guys featured in my show will be able to make it.

2. Have extra prints of each of the photographs in the show to give to my subjects if they show up. I guess this one is pretty self-explanatory, but if I gain from taking your picture, the least I can do is give you a free print, right? I also think it'd be pretty cool to do something like what Stefan Falke did with his Moko Jumbies book. Falke, a German born New York City based photographer documented the Moko Jumbie (stilt-walking Carnival character) and then, upon publication of his book, took photographs of his subjects with their published photographs.

My overall plan for the event is to park a 14-seater Red Band Maxi in Alice Yard and to have the exhibit take place within the Maxi. I'll mount my photographs on the backs of the seats of the Maxi, and I'll have an audio track playing through the vehicle's speakers, of interviews and statements from Maxi drivers about their thinking in designing their Maxis, about Maxi culture and how it's changed since the 80s, about the role of Maxi Taxis in Trinidad society, and so forth.

In any case, here's my Red Band Maxi photo set, so far.

Jumping In, Digging Deep, Dusting Off

2010-04-07T21:46:00.007-04:00

Over the last week, I’ve had several interesting and eye-opening experiences with the Trinity Program House. Given the time restraint I thought it important to jump right in to the project. This building is meant to be our second “home” while we are away from home, acting as an office, workspace, classroom, social venue, and more. Although the Trinity-in-Trinidad Program is renting the building, it is still our communal meeting location. There is so much potential in the building’s architectural structure but it needs some organizational improvements to make it feel owned. Each area of the Program House has a different purpose and mood attached to it, so it is important that each of these spaces serve the needs of each user, whether they are students, administration, or program guests.

On Tuesday night I felt inspired to begin the demolition process. Of course I was not knocking down walls or obliterating cabinets, rather than making a huge mess of the Program House. I need to know what is in every corner of the building in order to make a proper assessment of what needs to happen. Maybe I can learn more about the building’s history, maybe there are items that can be reused in another area, maybe there are unnecessary items taking up usable space. Not only will this digging be helpful in saving money if things are found which can be reused (whether it be paint or curtains or shelves) but it will ground this modern project in historical context for the building and the program. So I began the digging process in the kitchen. Besides empty bottles, old clothes and shoes, and lots of spider webs, I found a few place mats, a set of glass rectangles (maybe from the window slots), a Pepsi bottle from 2004, a wooden drying rack, and a dabla used for flipping Roti or busupshot. I also found two buckets of “Champaign White” paint under the sink. It looks like the cabinet wood is still good so they just need repainting and reorganization rather than complete replacing. This is good for the program financially and for me physically. This project has to remain practical.

And by Thursday I removed the rug from the chill corner and relocated the twin bed from the nook. In the storage space beneath the stairs, Vander and I found old buckets of paint, lots of fabric, way too many fans which did not work, two vintage wooden chairs, postcards from Tony Hall’s play “Jean and Dinah,” small ceramics, a bed frame (which the termites got to before us), and boxes of files (which the termites were still seen devouring). I hope to use some of the fabrics as pillow cover accents and to clean up the chairs for actual use. Some of the paints are usable while others were empty paint cans.

So after meeting with the Program Director, there were some new tips and guidelines….

Program Director’s Guidelines based on landlord’s input:
1. Cannot change floor tiles or re-tile bathroom, shelving can add to sink area
2. Look for price buster paint rather than buying gallons
3. Can change counter top
4. Get new curtains
5. No couch covers sold in Trinidad- couches can be re-upholstered (buy fabric)
6. Bed can leave, rug can leave
7. Cannot get bigger marker board
8. Need to buy 6 foot ladder (how to transport?)

Now, I have a clearer idea of what can and cannot be done on the interior and exterior based on the guidelines from the landlord. Aggravated and determined, I’m not ready to give up. This changes some preliminary ideas (especially regarding re-tiling the floors) but has not discouraged me from wanting to make improvements. At first I thought it difficult to create design plans without having a set budget, which I am used to seeing on most HGTV design shows and real guidelines to keep my mind/ambitions from aiming too high and wasting time. But what I was really lacking came down to concrete answers and approval confirmation if some ideas. I have now received the ‘go ahead’ and instructions on how to go about the financial process.

Since then I’ve visited a local paint shop to get brochures of color palettes and prices, done a visual inventory of the local discount store for cheap solutions, and continued to clean. In the new-found bathroom behind the house, I found old mas costume pieces, build-it-yourself shelves, more fabrics, etc. I love discovering things!

I think it will be most interesting to see how the other program members get involved in this design process, besides answering my survey. I have invited everyone to participate when available, not only to lessen the work load on my own manual labor but to make this a community project. The more who take part, the more it will feel like home to each person. I am also excited to use Shaun’s method of allowing the space and the community to develop the place and simply facilitating the changes through a design eye. The restriction here will be to complete the project by presentation week in May. I don’t want to rush the process or buy out of order in what needs to come next, but I also have no time to waste.

Also... view new photos from an Alice Yard visit and other interior material studies and while I was out roaming the Hindu community

Multimedia finished!

2010-04-02T00:40:00.004-04:00

Well, after much talk about this little multimedia project of mine, it's finally finished! Be sure to view it in full screen!

My Security with Boundaries (and how it was questioned)

2010-03-29T19:07:00.005-04:00

I was walking around today, taking photographs of the physical boundaries that have been my mental focus for the last few weeks. It was the first time that I set out to photograph locks and gates and barbed wire and walls, and boy did I ever find boundaries in a two-block radius of my apartment. But what I found beyond those boundaries also surprised me.

Generally, I would say, I’ve been thinking of these boundaries as flimsy and superficial. Short fences, broken gates, simple locks that would be easy to pick or cut; all of these factors made me underestimate the real use of them. I’d been so focused on what the locks “mean” rather than “do,” that I needed a scare to help me remember. Luckily, I wasn’t robbed, my boundaries weren’t necessarily breached, and I wasn’t harmed.

However, as I had walked up to one particular wall with yellow flowers growing through the holes in the cement wall, I was startled by a particularly vicious warning bark. That first bark and growl was followed by another canine voice joining in, and I was instantly aware of being grateful for the boundary between those two anonymous dogs and me.

But just as I was walking back to my own house, past the gate in that cement wall, I see, almost like it’s in slow motion, two front paws pushing the door open. It swung open with the momentum of the dog’s force, and I was instantly more than just startled. I was concerned that this dog was actually going to attack me, and so was another woman walking across the street. She shouted a warning, and we both warily walked away, as fast as we could. But the dog followed us at a trot. It wasn’t until we were nearly a block and half away that it turned around, and went back to its yard.

I was shaken, and I’m not afraid of dogs. What really disturbed me most, beyond the initial fierce disembodied barking was the fact that my comfort level with boundaries was instantly shattered and shifted. No longer were the walls, gates, and doors so static.
Sure, I still noticed the idiosyncrasies of a lock locked onto a door, without locking anything in or out, or the fact that a wall couldn’t keep a flower in, or how vines grew into barbed wire, and worked themselves into the border patrol. However, now, I’m thinking of how much such boundaries change.

It’s like the coffin in a haunted house. One minute it’s a stationary prop, and the next minute, a huge vampire is jumping out towards your neck. I got a big shock, and therefore, a shift to my thinking. I’m curious to see if, at all, my photographs and focus in this topic will shift.

Will I focus now on also incorporating more of how boundaries are created, changed and trespassed? I think so. I so wish I had the wherewithal at that moment to snap a shot of the dog breaking through the wall, because it was a pivotal action that has shown me just one more way to think about breaking boundaries and rethinking security.

I’m pleased with many of the images. This was a test run, and a way of avoiding the relative monotony of shooting only YALE locks. Since my focus is technically security, this episode with the dog and the simple act of walking critically around my neighborhood has enabled me to see security a little more in these works.

Now I’m wondering how I can transgress ideas of security, along the lines of the loose dog, perhaps through staged events, as well as hopefully, through quicker hands and thinking!

I thought I was more sure of my thinking for my final project, but now the floodgates of thought and possibilities have released that much more inspiration and things to think about!

The security set has grown HERE.

Multimedia and Maxi Taxis: An update

2010-03-28T20:15:00.004-04:00

This week, I've started diving in (unsuccessfully) into my Maxi Taxi project, while working more heavily on my multimedia photo essay on TriniRevellers/Tribe designer, Gina Maingot.

The final essay, which will be completed this week, will be about 3 and a half minutes long, and include most of the images in this flickr set, as well as a few other photographs, which will be narrated by sound gathered and compiled from two interviews with Ms. Maingot. The audio track, which I built using Audacity, is completed, and although it took longer than I had originally anticipated, went fairly smoothly. Now it's just a matter of mindfully laying the images in with deliberate timing and transitions in a sensible and logical way so the images and voice compliment one other.

I've begun the Maxi Taxi project with a rough start. I got linked up with a driver named Shannon, who drives the Maxi adorned with puzzle piece upholstery this week. I sat in on his route from Curepe to Sangre Grande, which was, to my surprise, about an hour and a half ride each way. While I took a few photographs during the ride, I encountered a few unexpected problems:

1. Exposure -- Very bright outdoors with very harsh shadows inside, led me to blow out the skies and underexpose inside. Also, I forgot to pay attention to my ISO and shot the entire set at 800... woops :-)
2. Movement -- The Maxi was full, and the seat Shannon saved for me was the middle seat of the driver's bench, so I could only shoot in front, behind (while being careful to not bump him nor the woman seated to my left) or to either side. No room to move around to get different perspectives.

I then went out a different time to shoot Maxis from the side of the road on the Priority Bus Route in Curepe. I figured it'd be nice to try getting a few shots of tons of Maxis driving past, and I was especially hoping to get some interesting shots of the different expressions on the front windshields of the vehicles. I encountered a few problems with this as well:

1. Catcallers -- Once again, men like to catcall women, I would estimate, about 200% more often when the woman is both white and has a camera. During the twenty minutes before I got frustrated and uncomfortable and decided to call it quits, I got catcalled by an ambulance driver, a police officer, a garbage truck driver, several P cars, and a small handful of passersby. It's really difficult to concentrate on your photographs when you've got cops leaning their bodies out of their vehicles to wave at you, and truck drivers pulling over (holding up traffic) to ask for a photograph.
2. Content -- Photographs of the outsides of moving vehicles on the highway are just not that interesting. Or at least, I didn't manage to find a way to make them very interesting.

After discussing with Mark Lyndersay my various "points of failure," as he put it, we determined that I need to go to where my subject is, and I need to catch my subject on their time -- I need to go to Maxi stands during off-peak hours when the drivers aren't scrambling to fill their vehicles and continue on their routes. I need to spend several hours liming with the drivers when they're just waiting about. I also need to find the human connection between the vehicle and the driver. So, in thinking about this project more, I think I'm going to try shifting my idea to being portraits of drivers with their vehicles. This will be a more feasible way to connect the person customizing the vehicle with the vehicle itself. I think this will be a good approach for now, especially considering that for this project, I can't go alone (for safety reasons). This way, I'll also cover my bases in case I don't have time (I only have another 5 weeks until this project has to be presentable) to spend enough time with an individual driver to get to know him enough to trust being alone with him, and then to interview him, and then to go through the sound, and then process the images, and then make a complete multimedia track. After working on this Gina Maingot essay, which is only about 3 1/2 minutes long but has taken me easily 30 hours already, I'm realize how time consuming and labor intensive multimedia work really is, so I'd probably be better off just really honing in on producing the best (and most telling) still photographs that I can.

In any case, as embarrassing as this photo set is, here are the least terrible of my starter Maxi photos.

A "Brief" Survey

2010-03-26T12:58:00.003-04:00

After meeting with Charmaine earlier this week, I felt very encouraged and inspired to begin the project. She explained the typical process the firm undergoes when involved with a design project. From teh brief, to design creations, to deciding on a final practical design, to writing up construction documents, and finally administration of the project, there is a great deal of detail which accompanies the task. Luckily the Program House is already constructed- meaning I only concern myself with the first three steps. The Brief is the most important part because it allows the designer and the client to collaborate, acting as a written agreement of what the client wants and what the designer understands the client wants.

So today I sent out a short survey regarding the program house to the other six members of the group, the program directors, and two previous program participants. I'm hoping to receive responses soon so I may begin to plan out the physical changes for the space. I have to consider flooring, color vibrancy, lighting, organization, actual measurements, practical use of space, and even mosquito control. More importantly, I want the space to still look like it belongs in Trinidad when I am finished. I mean, I am an American student visiting the Caribbean for a few months and have created my own definition of "Caribbean Style" based on the spaces I have been exposed to. An American-Trinidadian fusion of styles based on historical structures and contemporary ideas.

Below is the list of questions I asked my "clients"to consider:

1. What first comes to mind when you hear “Trinity Program House” and how does the phrase make you feel in general about the location?
2. What rooms/areas do you like about the Program House and why?
3. What do you wish you saw/had there?
4. What room(s) are you required to use the most?
5. What room(s) to you find yourself willingly using on your own time?
6. What room/areas need the most work (choose 3) and explain why/how?

a. Classroom
b. Kitchen
c. Balcony
d. Administration Office
e. Bathroom
f. Out front
g. Out back
h. Computer area
i. Chill corner

7. What can be done to make the Program House a generally more effective and attractive space?
8. Would you be willing to physically help with remodeling the Program House in April/May?
9. Any further comments or suggestions regarding this project…..

Performance and Control

2010-03-22T02:17:00.003-04:00

Lately I’ve been thinking about my final project proposal. I have an idea that I’ve been obsessed with, literally. I’ve dreamt about it, sketches of this performance are posted on my walls, I’m writing my lines in my notebook, and it seems that nearly every conversation I have can somehow link back to this idea that I have stewing in my mind.

I’ve been considering the importance of the story of my experience, especially after last class, my first meeting with Mark Lyndersay and with this article that Christopher Cozier recently sent us. The value of my own work and experiences is something that I paradoxically have no issue seeing, and often do not consider.

This, combined with my theatre course with Tony Hall has led to one concept of a performance piece relating my feelings about my own experiences, and with my semester-long focus on security, locks, walls, and boundaries.

I hope that this piece that I’m concocting will speak to more than just me about the ironies of the idea of “security,” and the juxtaposition of being within or outside of boundaries.

However, despite my obsession, I still haven’t entirely figured out all the details in a way that is clear enough to present. Until then, I will also quickly speak to my continued thoughts on valuing experience. I met with Mark Lyndersay last week, for the first time, and while I learned a lot about parametric software’s, multipliers, cataloguing softwares, and copyright information, one clear part of our conversation, in my mind, is his impression of my own value on my work. I had never considered myself self-deprecating, or actively devaluing my photography process. However, that was clearly the tone in which I communicated, and due to this fact, it is something that I have continued to be bothered by, post-meeting.

In this, I am actively considering my inner thoughts on my work, and perhaps comments I make to my fellow photographers, and how I accept (or don’t) compliments on my work. It’s something to think about, that’s for sure.

Also, since one of the issues I broached with Lyndersay had to due with my lack of full control/connection to images, I spent this weekend primarily working at exerting more control over my image process.

This set is a look at the more controlled outcome!

A Glimpse into Hindhuism in Trinidad and an Update on the Maxi Project

2010-03-21T21:24:00.005-04:00

The past few weeks have afforded us several visit to spiritual places in the Hindhu faith here in Trinidad. The following photo se t is of some of those encounters.
As for my Maxi Taxi project, I've started looking for contacts by asking our Maxi driver if he knows (and trusts) anyone enough to let me tag along and interview them and photograph them. I'm still waiting for him to get back to me, but after a long conversation with Mark Lyndersay, I need to acknowledge my anxieties that lead me to want to plan, plan, plan as being indicative that I'm being careful and trying to cover all my bases, but at the end of the day, I really just need to start working on this project immediately. I'm running out of time here, and no matter how much planning I do, if I don't start getting images, I'm not going to have any images (duh). So, tomorrow I've got a date with my roommate to dive right in. We're going to try the priority bus route from Curepe to Trincity first, since that's the route that I noticed the transformers Maxi and the puzzle-piece Maxi several weeks ago. My game plan is to keep my camera in my bag, wait for a Maxi that strikes me as personalized, flag it down, and if possible sit up close by the driver when I get on so I can talk to him a bit. If the Maxi isn't customized, we'll get out at Tunapuna market, and wait for another one. My primary objective, and my goal for this week, is to get images and phone numbers, and to worry about recording interviews with drivers and recording ambient noise from inside the Maxi and outside, at the Maxi stands, later if its possible.

Tune in next week for my progress!

Designer on the Inside

2010-03-16T15:15:00.007-04:00

A short while ago, Nikki and I made a visit to Walt Lovelace at “The Beachhouse” in Port of Spain, Trinidad. He was so welcoming to our endeavors in Trinidad and willingly showed us some of his work. From music videos (including 3 Canal) to documentary films, he has a very skilled eye and intentional style. I really appreciated what he had to say regarding his creative experiences and advice for us. However, my artistic eye for color was very enticed by the space itself. Every room was a different color and the curtains complimentary to the walls. The cabinets were also interesting accents to each room and only enhanced the creative vibe I felt in the place. It was so playful and inspiring! Then, while waiting for our transportation to arrive I noticed and indulged in the large stack of interior design magazines on the desk. And the wheels began to turn uncontrollably.

There is something special about the influence of interior space on the human psychological state. Living spaces, working spaces, and play areas each have their own aura and people are both directly and indirectly impacted by this atmosphere. I don’t know much about architectural design, but I’ve always been interested in the interior design and decoration process. This includes spending entire Saturdays watching HGTV just for fun. Before attending Trinity College, I really wanted to study Interior Design, but given the circumstances I am a studio arts and theatre dance double major… for now.

So recently I had a chat with Sean Leonard, an architect. He and his firm design for commercial and domestic purposes, including Alice Yard and stage design for the 3 Canal concert. He explained that Alice Yard is supposed to be changed as needed, that it’s not about seating people where he wants them, but letting the community mold the space into what it needed next. For example, the graffiti was from a past exhibition but one wall was preserved to showcase the moment. Sean believes it is important to let Alice Yard develop itself, but that he is only there to facilitate the changes as they come. Brilliant! So I offered my services to help at Alice Yard or on any project which needed a hands-on volunteer. (Back home, I am known for changing the furniture arrangements in my room once a month, but I also spent all of last summer painting dorm rooms on campus) Sometimes an artist just needs to get her hands dirty.
Then I thought about doing my own design project at Trinity’s Program House. It’s a really great space where we have classes together two days a week but could use a little love in the design department and an upgrade. The Program Directors love the idea and are looking into a budget for me. They have noted what needs to stay in place and showed me several beautiful student photographs which need wall placement. My task will have to concern resources, deciding which space(s) to do, and creating proposals on what I want to do with the space. So I’ve been reading Gaston Bachelard’s “The Poetics of Space” to grasp the idea of design and spending a lot of time in the building to observe how people move in the space. I may interview the other students to get opinions on improvements and want to meet with Charmaine, the interior designer from Sean’s firm, to get a foundation in design thought process. I like Sean Leonard’s notion that a space should develop itself and the designer should facilitate it -so I look forward to studying every nook and cranny of the building and will soon decide what move to make next. This could be a great final project- but I make no promises yet. One day at a time.

Nature

2010-03-14T23:47:00.002-04:00

Recently, I've had the opportunity to photograph a few of Trinidad and Tobago's naturally beautiful flora and fauna.

This set will continue to be updated as I explore more of what T&T's rain-forests have to offer!

Experimenting with SoundSlides

2010-03-14T18:53:00.016-04:00

This week I've begun experimenting with using SoundSlides to present images in a more compelling and deliberate way. SoundSlides allows you to arrange your images in a slide show, adjust the timing and movement of slides as well as transitions between slides easily. SoundSlides also allows you to lay an audio track to accompany the slide show. While I've been familiar with other photographer's visual presentations put together with SoundSlides, this is my first time working with it. This is my first experimentation with combining sound that I captured from the formal event of the Kendra Phagwa Festival in Londonville, with photographs I took at the event. I also experimented with stop motion animation, created by rapidly presenting a sequence of images so as to create movement from the still images.

I had a number of challenges, again, technically and content-wise, that I hadn't anticipated.

Technical challenges: In the previous multimedia work I've dabbled in, I've worked primarily in Final Cut Pro, a much more powerful (and much more complicated) program that allows for the incorporation of video, still, and multiple layers of audio. Since I do not have Final Cut Pro, my first challenge was in creating an mp3 audio track that would accompany my images. When using programs like Final Cut Pro, most multimedia storytellers will build up from the audio track, which they complete first. The first layer is audio, and from there, image stills, video, and supplementary audio (sound effects, narration, music) is layered up accordingly. Although the process is easier when the audio track is finished, one challenge of using SoundSlides is that once an audio track is imported into SoundSlides, it cannot be changed. Any changes to the audio track must be made in a separate program and then re-imported into SoundSlides to replace the original track. Since the source of my sound was from video recorded using my Nikon D90, and since I do not have any other audio software as of yet, I decided to try using iMovie to create my audio track. I then separated the video from the audio, built the audio track, exported it as an mp3 file, and imported it into SoundSlides. That process alone was time consuming, and posed some problems since I couldn't revise that track once it was imported into SoundSlides without repeating that time consuming process. Overall, I found that iMovie, while easy to use, is not the right tool for me in this setting. I've just downloaded Audacity, an open source sound editing program, and while Audacity won't change that I won't be able to change my audio track from within SoundSlides, since it is software dedicated to sound, it should give me more options to deal with sound in a more efficient way.

Content: One of the challenges with telling a story through photographs, sound, and/or video, is, well.. telling the story. It's fairly easy to present a slide show of interesting images, but it is much more different to arrange those images in a meaningful order with meaningful timing, and to incorporate a thematic flow throughout. This is one of my areas of least experience right now. I know of a few ways to tell a story with images. One is to accompany textual narration, either in captions or subtitles within the presentation, or as introductory text at the beginning for context. Another way is to have a third-party narrator give context to the images. Another way is to include interviews with subjects, and to mindfully lay the audio interviews over appropriately paired images, and when applicable, appropriately layered sound effects. None of these options, however, are possible if, as the storyteller, you don't understand the story you want to tell. As a result, all of the above issues are problematic to my telling a story of Phagwa. I attended the event with no knowledge of the event, many of the songs were in Hindhi so I did not understand the language, and without that knowledge base, I didn't know what to photograph. Even now, after the fact, when I've done a bit more research, I still don't understand the story of Phagwa enough to tell "The Story of Phagwa." What I can tell, however, is MY story of attending this Phagwa event. I chose to record sound of the musicians playing and singing because I was drawn to the trance-like meditative calm that filled the air when they played. I photographed the musicians, and their instruments, because many of them were foreign and beautiful to me. I photographed in rapid succession with very short shutter speeds the action of the drummers', and other muscians', hands to convey what I saw as a combination of individual actions by individual body parts by individual people resulting in these beautiful sounds that flowed over a large crowd of collective individuals. I recorded sound of people singing and dancing around Holika as she was burnt, and I photographed that process. At the event, I decided to capture as widely as I could, in hopes that I would latter be able to draw from that pool to tell the story that I would learn after the fact. After the fact, however, in conversation with Nicolette, I realized that perhaps what would be more interesting in this setting, and what might lend itself best to a technical exercise in using new tools to see if these are the tools I want to continue using, would be to simply document myself through this experience.

Okay, great. I'm documenting myself through this experience. That still gets me back to those first sets of issues:
1) Do I thread this fragmented story together with text or with narration?
2) If I weave this story together with narration, presumably my own voice reflecting upon the experience and why I chose to shoot/capture what I did, I did two audio tracks -- one of the music and sound that I recorded at the event, and one of my own voice's narration.
3) Since SoundSlides only accommodates a single audio track, I'll need to layer my narration over the existing audio track in a separate program, export the two merged tracks as a single mp3 to import into SoundSlides.
4) I don't know how to do that yet.

So this is my first attempt. No text, no narration, only my images, and the accompanying sound that I was interested in, and several hours of this non-technologically minded girl trying to figure out new software.

To be honest, I'm not sure how much more work I'm going to do on this project, since my intent was for it to be more of an experimentation with this process. What I am going to start doing is applying this process (although hopefully it'll be easier with the help of Audacity or another sound editing) to a new project that I hope to continue for the rest of my time here : Maxi Taxis as a form of personal expression.

One of the first things I noticed when I arrived at the airport in Port of Spain were the big bold letters "GOD'S FAVOUR" sprawled across the upper front windshield of our maxi taxi. The more maxis I saw, the more expressions of perspective, religious and secular, displayed proudly on the front and rear windshields of the maxis. Once I started to ride different maxis, I noticed that their use as vehicles of self-expression extended far beyond the words toted on their exteriors. Many maxis have graphically expressive ceilings. One maxi I took to TrinCity had an elaborate Transformer's themed design on the interior ceiling while another one I took in Arima had a puzzle-piece patterned interior ceiling. Even the little signs inside are expressive of the drivers' personalities. So far my favorite signs include "If you must smoke, please don't exhale," "Please don't poke the driver," and "I am a Driver, not a Pilot. If you want to get where you're going on time, leave earlier." My initial conversation about this idea have been with Chris Cozier and with another well established photographer in the area, Mark Lyndersay, who I'm also working with here. Chris Cozier offered some insight into the history of Maxi Taxis, specifically pointing to how much more expressive they were in previous years and reflecting on some issues that arose as a result of a sort of socially deviant underground maxi taxi culture in Trinidad. Mark Lyndersay informed me that much of the scaling down of the maxi taxis relates to a shift in the culture of consumerism with regards to automobiles. He reflected that back around the 1980s, when Maxi Taxis were very expressive, people would buy one vehicle for years, whereas now, people purchase vehicles with the intent to trade them up in a few years. As a result, people don't invest as much into their vehicles, since vehicle modification can make it harder to resell in the future. I see a really interesting dialogue emerging from this trend in the maxis, and in their changing roles in Trinidad's culture, and perhaps in their changing roles for the maxi drivers' lives. I'm also particularly drawn to documenting this because its such a routine and ordinary and non-glamorous part of daily life here. I'm also drawn to the Maxis as a documentary project since Chris Cozier mentioned that he wasn't sure if there was any documentation of Maxis back when they were intensely expressive.

I'm going to start off trying to find 2-3 maxi drivers with highly customized vehicles, see if I can follow them along on their route for a few hours, talk to them about their lives, how they started driving maxis, why they chose to customize their vehicle, what the customizations mean to them and so forth. Naturally, I have to think about my safety, as a young, female, foreigner who doesn't know her way around this island as much as I'd like to. I'm going to see if I can meet some Maxi drivers through my Maxi driver and friend, Ivan LaRose. Ultimately, I'd like to use multimedia storytelling tools to tell the stories of a few Maxi drivers, as told through their vehicles.

Looking For Some Direction

2010-03-08T00:20:00.002-04:00

My most recently posted images, from J'ouvert morning 2010, are unrelated to the direction that I want to take my photography while I'm still here, although they do demonstrate one of the challenges that I've been finding in producing compelling images.

Thus far, I have experienced two primary challenges: technique and content. I know those are the two most obvious challenges to producing good images, but I still think my personal challenges with the two are worth discussing.

Regarding technique, it is always difficult to handle low light situations with moving subjects. I've been shooting with a new Nikon D90, which has surprisingly little digital noise at high ISOs, and that has helped, but at the end of the day, film needs light to oxidize silver halide crystals, and digital sensors need light to register information. If there isn't enough available light, you need to provide your own. The challenge: flash ruins the mood and atmosphere of pictures. While expensive, high quality external flashes are better than in-body flash, images are still undeniably stronger when they're shot with natural light.

My conclusion, as I think about where to take photography this semester? Shoot in daylight. Again, I know it sounds obvious and simple, but it really does make a world of difference.

Now, regarding content: One of the biggest challenges for me in deciding what to photograph, is my level of comfort going out and taking pictures. Thus far, every time I've tried walking the streets with my camera, the cat calling increases. The men here certainly don't hesitate to cat call every female in sight without a camera, but for some reason, when I have my camera out, it's like bait for hungry sharks. "Eh sexy gyal, ya wanna take mah piture?" It makes me feel uncomfortable enough that I feel like I can't spontaneously whip out my camera and start shooting. This has led me to consider a logical next step. If my goal while in Trinidad is to document my experiences, then why not document my experience as a photographer being cat called? If men pull over on the side of the road and ask me if I want to take their picture, why not take their picture? I've been thinking about this "Portraits of Cat Callers" idea for about a week or so now, and although I like the idea, I'm still hesitant to try it because it involves confronting a reality about my surroundings that I don't feel very comfortable about... which is interesting because I find that to be one of the best reasons to take photographs.

I've been working on a few other mini projects for a couple weeks now, and we'll see if any of those start taking me in another direction that I haven't considered yet. I've started photographing Maxi Taxis to look at the Maxi as a means of personal, aesthetic, and religious expression for the Maxi Drivers, and I'm also working on a two multimedia pieces. The first is a very short practice piece on a Phagwa ceremony I attended, to try out SoundSlides for the first time and to experiment with combining stop motion animation, still images, and sound into a multimedia piece. The second, slightly longer piece is on TriniRevellers/Tribe designer, Gina Maingot, and how her vision for Carnival mas reflects where Carnival mas has been and where its going. I've only done one other multimedia piece, Coming To Terms, a piece about my Growth Hormone Deficiency, which is still a work in progress (when I have time to revisit it, I want to take out all of the video and replace it all with stop motion animation). While I learned a lot about multimedia production in working on Coming To Terms, it was done with a different (much more complicated) program, Final Cut Pro, and I had the help of an experienced friend to work through the project. While I understand that SoundSlides is infinitely simpler than Final Cut Pro, and that it will be perfectly adequate for my needs, since I'm not using video, I haven't used it yet. As a result, my experience using it for the Phagwa piece and the Gina Maingot piece will help me decide if I want to work with straight photography for my final presentation at Alice Yard, or if I want to try lacing in some sound and stop motion animation. We'll see. Here's to experimentation!

Positionality and Tobago

2010-03-08T00:10:00.003-04:00

I’ve been considering my position and positionality as a photographer recently. I was hoping that looking to Krista A. Thompson’s book titled “An Eye for the Tropics” would help me to be able to more critically look at my role, but found instead that it only confused and complicated how I feel.

On the one hand, Thompson prints a quote from an old travel guide to Jamaica, and I can immediately connect with. I simply recognize my own experiences in Trinidad and Tobago with the idea, “that to a person coming from a northern climate, it is realizing for the first time a picture one has been in the habit of seeing for years in their imagination” (Thompson, 93).

Of course, I have not been seeing these exact scenes, colors, or peoples, but images coming from the Caribbean islands at large, as argued by Thompson, are taken in a way as to homogenize and create desire for a particularly “Caribbean” experience.

This is what I am hoping to avoid. I am hoping to avoid, in my photography and experience of Trinidad and Tobago, that specific type of stereotyping and stripping of the individuality of a nation. As I previously wrote, I am finding one way of doing this through looking for, finding and seeing the smallest human moments that are (supposedly) universally recognizable. The assumption that a look, a touch, or a smile can be universally recognizable may show my own bias and set of cultural assumptions, but in this I am endeavoring to look beyond what is considered “foreign” and fantastic, and instead find elements that I am comfortable in recognizing.

While I’m still exploring this for myself, I’m taking the opportunities that come to photograph the beauty that I see. So until I further work out my feelings, and also the direction of my focus, this set of images are those that I took in Tobago, while I was attempting to balance my mind on the issues of tropicalization and colonial legacy within photography.

In these photographs, I can see my mind composing photographs like scenes from the post cards Thompson points out, to clever moments, and my favorite focuses of color, texture, and locks. Here I see what I've read and how I've been socialized jockeying for the foremost artistic influence.

Security

2010-03-04T12:47:00.000-04:00

I’d noticed the amount of constructed boundaries in my day-to-day life in Trinidad, but the coming of Carnival had marked an increase in the literal boundaries as well, even while people themselves were preparing to wear less clothing, and therefore don fewer boundaries. Walls were being constructed around banks and businesses, bars were coming down over store fronts, roads were blocked off, and yellow tape was posted to prevent entrance in anticipation of Carnival.

My focus on constructed boundaries has however, shifted after Carnival more towards locks. Locks have been a significant part of the culture shock that I’ve observed my fellow participants in the program going through. That’s not to say that I’m immune to this particular jarred familiarity. Rather, I went through similar steps of struggle, observation and presentation of the difference when I was living in South Africa. Here in Trinidad, I have observed just as many barred windows, and just as many locks, on shorter and less imposing fences surrounding houses. There is less barbed wire, and fewer visible security company stickers plastered onto windows of apartment complexes than in South Africa, but the same feeling is still present here in Trinidad; the feeling that all these “safety” measures are somehow necessary. If there wasn’t a lot of crime, either in theft and robbery, or some sort of attack, why would so many people in our residential neighborhood collectively or individually choose to have at least three or four locks separating “them” from “me” and the “dangerous outside” from the “safe inside?”

What I’ve then been photographically focusing on are the tangible “things” which lend a (false) feeling of security. In this, I’ve been focusing on doors, locks, gates and walls. However, I’ve also been attempting to expose the irony that this simple objects pose, in the creation and maintenance of “safety.” Do three locks on your door really make you safer, or is their presence alone making you more susceptible to irrational fears of the dangers that require those three locks to keep you safe? Does the bold black imprint of “SECRUTIY” on a booth make you feel better, knowing that someone is “always” watching? Or is that illusion broken when you come to see that the security booth’s windows are papered over, and the security guard only gets up from in front of his television program to pee in the corner of the compound, by the trash cans? What too, of gate locks, I ask? When one can download a guide of how to pick locks, and use any number of slim simple tools to open your padlock, or simply jump the gate, are those locks useful?

What I wonder, when I look and see so many “security measures” is how often these objects actually serve as protection, or if rather, they serve as indicators of homes with enough worth protecting. I also wonder at how those same potential indicators of wealth may serve to make someone feel worthy of protection, and somehow more safe and sheltered from the outside world.

In supposed “third world nations” like South Africa and Trinidad, I have also noticed the propensity of citizens and visitors alike, talking of the crime in the area to serve as a warning, or to show a particular suave or worldly understanding of criminal minds and how to avoid being a victim. However, regardless of how one may act, or what security is in place, one can never choose not to be a victim.

This leads me back to constructed boundaries. Locks, barred windows, and security systems do create visible and invisible boundaries between passers-bys and inhabitants. There is also a class component to such “security measures.” Who can afford a complex security system, and who must rely on personal vigilance to create security?

And, most interesting to me, in traveling from first to third to first to third, which nations, areas of those nations, and people within those nations feel the need for which types of security. The suburban neighborhood that my mother lives in relies on decorative walls and fences with unlocked latches, but keypad locked garages and homes with motion-sensor security systems, while my father, in a rural area of the same state, never locks his front door. In South Africa, where I felt I’ve been most actively taught to “feel” constant and imminent danger, vicious barking dogs lurk behind tall walls adorned with barbed wire, and houses sit behind locked gates, locked doors, and permanently barred windows. In Trinidad, I’m coming to terms with the seven keys it takes to access my space, and the growing awareness of similar security measures every where that I go.

Attitudes around locks and other boundaries I find, are rarely questioned. The importance of locking the outside gate is tantamount, and the importance of locking both the door and iron gate in front of my door is stressed, and further reinforced by the insecurity that other students feel when the door is open. And despite this seeming disavowal of locks and all other security measures, I do mind the norm. I lock both locks into my apartment, and keep the gates and doors of any of my spaces locked. After all, I don’t want to compromise the supposed safety of the complex that I live in, and the community that I’m therefore partially responsible for protecting through the three measly locks and obviously scale-able gates.

I also think it is clear, in my photo stream, that I’m attracted to and interested in photographing the color and contrast and ideological realities of locks. Due to their constant outdoor presence, many of the locks I find most compelling are covered in rust, accompanied by a bold color, strongly lit, or even missing, perhaps due to a previous break-in. Following my preoccupation with seeing the constructed boundaries of Carnival, I am interested in further exploring similarities perhaps, between locks as security and boundaries, and my camera as a boundary, and as security.

In my mind, even the lens of a camera can be construed as a boundary. It is a distinct separation of subject matter and photographer, and I am increasingly aware of this feeling as I continue to live and travel Trinidad and Tobago, and talk to my fellow photography students. One has remarked that it is often easier to “see” uncomfortable events and realities through their camera. While I have never consciously felt this way, I am now more aware of the potential truth of this statement in my own work. Is it sometimes easier for me, at an event, to simply get caught up within the colors and details and light?

As my awareness has grown to this potential boundary creation, I’ve tried to focus on the small events and details that are recognizable and human to any event. Within the glitzy and glittering fantastic scene of Carnival, I focused on a smile, or a sleeping child to bring home the shared humanity, even in a situation that I found new and strange. Rather than focusing only or purely on difference, I am instead trying to also see the little, often overlooked similarities.

Not all of these photos are successful. For example, the photograph of a child interacting with a Blue Devil around his age was underdeveloped and nearly unrecognizable, but I find it important for my own self-understanding and preservation and attempts of non-exploitative photography, to continue to try to capture these smaller, common human moments, even in the midst of an unfamiliar cultural happening. This makes me feel, at least, that my role is not entirely tourist-focused, nor entirely focused as an anthropologically focused student photographer. I’m also not committing to photojournalism in this, as many of these little moments are my favorite images, and not specific to any particular event, culture, or people.

It is this mental focus on commonality that led me to locks, and so the mental circle repeats itself as I continue to look to those connecting pieces and moments of every day interactions and life.

Auto-Focus State of Mind

2010-03-02T12:07:00.000-04:00

I have a confession to make…. I am not a professional photographer. I do not claim to be one, nor do I consider myself the equivalent. I am a photography student, who successfully completed Photo I on Black and White Film photography. And I received a Nikon D3000 as a Christmas/New Year’s/Going away-to-Trinidad gift in December, so I am just beginning to learn through experience about digital photo taking. That said, there are moments when I wish I could take beautiful photos, but absolutely fail. Sometimes failing makes me work harder at trying to get the image I want, but other times, I get really aggravated and turn the camera off completely for the rest of the event. It is sad, but true. At one point, I even found myself consciously choosing to not even try to take photos at an event simply due to the environmental conditions (with light, motion, estimated crowd density, my role). The real shocking point was when I went to a show completely forgetting to bring the camera out of the apartment! My mind was ‘out of focus,’ I suppose, on photography.

But that’s just it. Over the course of a month, I’ve learned that –for me- photography is more than shutter speed, aperture, point of view, and an idea, photography includes a huge element relating to state of mind. I can go into an event as either a witness (to participate in that performer-audience relationship) or as a photographer who documents the experiences other people are having, but I cannot do both. I simply can’t have dual focus. When I bring the camera, my eyes see everything. Every sense is heightened, every color illuminated, contrasts made beautiful, and minute detail emphasized, that I lose focus on the cultural value or personal experience of the event. I no longer see the big picture. My mind becomes mechanical to the point where I can’t enjoy taking photos and that is a problem. There are so many parts to taking a picture, just in preparation of the moment where one pushes the shutter button. I have to find balance.

The greatest issue I’ve had so far, especially due to the Carnival season, is taking photos of moving subjects at night- perhaps a concert or art show or media launch. There is a huge difference in technical stress between daytime landscapes and night concerts with moving subjects. The 3 Canal Media Launch was the first night event I attempted to photograph and it was no easy task. I found myself either packing the camera away or using Auto mode with Auto Focus to take shots (though that mode uses flash, a feature not condoned by my advisor). A while later, I started taking photos in Program mode with AutoFocus on. This means I can concentrate on composition, content and available light rather than everything technical all at once. Now, while some may say, ‘it’s about the image itself, not the camera mode the image is taken in,’ I have a hard time grasping the thought that the camera is doing the calculative work and I am just there to position it in the real world. I am not the tool; I want to make the choices. But I think the pressure of getting tangible photos from a plethora of once-in-a-lifetime events was distracting from my enjoyment of some events and from the action of taking photos, but also from developing ‘manual’ photo skills.

So I decided to bring the camera to a 3 Canal concert rehearsal. It was interesting to be a part of the production making process; hearing commands for lighting cues and watching the actors mark stage positions. Since it was a rehearsal, there were trial runs of color projections and spotlights, sound checks and script mess-ups. As a performer, it made me feel right at home to be amongst the madness of show preparation. I felt pretty special getting to watch the actors practice, meet the director, and shake Wendell Manwarren’s hand. Then I realized that there is an interesting relationship between visual arts and theatre set design, where traffic patterns, color focal points, prop mediation, and activity balance all come into play. No wonder why my senses were so heightened!

The dilemma then became: taming my performance drive to allow aesthetic visual comprehension. In other words, I needed to dissociate myself from the excitement to see the aesthetic values worth photographing. This, of course, was extremely difficult. I chose not to bring the camera to the official show performance. This decision had its advantages and disadvantages. Given that we attended the first half of the rehearsal show to photograph, I found myself really enjoying the final visual product on show night. Yet, I also knew what to expect. The second half of the performance was the greatest thing I’ve seen cross a stage in about a year. Song, dance, humor, lighting excitement, climaxed plot and even audience interaction where I got to sing into the microphone! It was so much to see- almost too much. So though there were beautiful moments where a good image could have been shot, I don’t regret leaving the camera home. It was such a great show to experience. If I could do it again, however, I would see the final show twice and photograph at my second attendance. There is a different awareness that accompanies familiarity. Moments are anticipated and the experience intensified, when a performance can be enjoyed as a whole first, then zoned in on visual aesthetics separately. Just as one shouldn’t take snapshots of people and call it portraiture, every performance has a personality which needs dissection before documentation- not to devalue the great photos my co-interns were able to capture at the final 3 Canal show. Besides, I really would’ve loved to see the show again.

Recently, however, I have found myself less intimidated by digital photography. Through meeting other art students in my Three-Dimensional Design class at the University of the West Indies, interested in graphic and fine arts, I have realized how lucky I am to have such a good camera. They can do some beautiful things with point-and-shoot technology and they have tried to assist me with my own camera. I am very grateful. So on Sunday we visited Hanuman Murti and Temple in the Sea and I was inspired to put the camera on manual mode, with manual focus on the lens. I tried various combinations (examples featured below) of program mode, auto focus, manual focus, aperture changes, and shutter speed etc. to take various photos in different locations (shade vs. sun placement) or of the same object but in different camera settings. I really do want to become familiar with the technique so I will have better reaction time to set up when I want to take photos. It will take time and practice.

Next on my list of “things to attempt before leaving Trinidad” is figuring out the basics of Photoshop. The most I do now is crop the photos, but adding an artistic touch to my own photos though a program could also be valuable. I am not ready to tackle that yet due to my low comfort level with my camera at this point, but I would like to experiment with Photoshop before the end of March. I like a good challenge- but I’ll definitely be in need of some assistance when that time comes. Until then, I will work on altering my Auto-Focus state of mind and befriending this Nikon.

New photos also posted: Tobago, Blue Devils at Paramin, and Pretty Mas on Carnival Tuesday

Follow-up on Color and Presentation

2010-02-28T18:26:00.001-04:00

A Follow-up on Color:

On February 17th, I posted a Question of Color, in which I reflected upon some of the challenges to making decisions about whether or not to work in color or black and white, especially when the decision is left to be made after the shoot, as it is with digital photography.

This question arose again when I was post-processing my images from the Blue Devils in Paramin, Maraval on Carnival Monday. A big part of the Blue Devils character is, obviously, their blue color, so black and white images would leave out that element. On the other hand, some of the same problems with color came up with these images, in particular the question of whether or not the blue paint was visually distracting from other content within the images, like the facial expressions of the devils or the on-lookers. Another factor for consideration was the night's poor lighting, the Devil's rapid movements, and my lack of a quality external flash. As a result, some of the images, which I find to be of a nice moment, look really crappy, but a black and white conversion diminishes the visual impact of the technical deficiencies. An example of such is the image below, of a Devil attempting to scare a nonchalant onlooker, and failing. I find her body language, the way she cooly drags from her cigarette and cocks her head to the side while maintaining eye contact with the masked devil to very sexy, an unexpected feeling given context of the Devil's activities. It's a nice moment, but it was dark, there were no street lights, and the only flash I have is my camera's built-in flash. The result is lighting that is too harsh and lacks atmosphere (see below).

When I was working on these images, I was trying to decide whether to publish them in color or in black and white, but instead, I chose to do both. My final image set consists of 6 color images and 5 black and white images. Although photographers usually stick to either all color or exclusively black and white in a single presentation, I've seen a few photographers successfully employ a mixture of color and black and white in their work. One of my favorite examples is Matt and Melissa Eich's multimedia presentation, Love in the First Person, published by MediaStorm.

Although the story is told predominately in color, there are two black and white images within the first 60 seconds. The piece also incorporates black and white video. Overall, it's a practically flawless piece of multimedia storytelling and I think part of its strength is its selective use of black and white images to evoke a different feel.

I suppose the real question is why you chose to present an image in color or black and white. With most artistic decisions, there should be some thought involved in it, and technical deficits probably don't constitute a good enough reason. Regardless, click here to see my image set from the Paramin Blue Devils and to decide for yourself if I made the right decision or if the color/black and white combination is just awkward.

A Follow-up on Presentation:

On February 26th, I wrote about how I was struggling with photography and I wrote a fairly convoluted brain purge exploring why I felt I was struggling, and some ways that I planned on going about getting myself un-stuck in my photography. One thing that I noted to be important was how a photographer chooses to present his or her images, and how the ordering of the images can be important. I used an expression borrowed from biology textbooks about how form mirrors function, and I'd like to present a perfect example, also from MediaStorm, Common Ground by Scott Strazzante.

For fourteen years, Scott Strazzante followed, and photographed, two families, the Cagwins and the Grabenhofers, as the Cagwin's farm home is demolished and the Grabenhofers move into the housing development that takes its place. The seven and a half minute long piece compares life for the two families, but its the presentation of the ideas that tells the story so convincingly. The piece is filled with carefully selected images presented side by side, a shot of the Cagwins next to one of the Grabenhofers, and although throughout the piece, the moments depicted of the Cagwins all take place years before the Grabenhofers' home was even built, the side by side image presentation conveys Strazzante's idea of Common Ground so perfectly, and so beautifully. Strazzante's conscious decisions about what form to use to most effectively tell the story is not only limited to his selection and pairing of images. There is a very compelling sequence at 1:43 in which the Grabenhofer father is teaching his son how to ride a bike, and part of what makes the sequence so compelling is Strazzante's use of stop motion animation instead of video. The still images, presented rapidly in sequence to give a jagged, uneven, video-like effect is so much more effective than the same moments would have been with video. In this case, the stop motion animation mirrors the son's unsteadiness on his bike, and emphasizes that all of life is just made up of individual moments, like individual still photographs. In the words of the famous Henri Cartier-Bresson, "Life is once, forever".

Struggling

2010-02-26T14:46:00.000-04:00

The image above is from a set of images that I'm not very proud of, from the 3canal Jam-It! rehearsal (February 2nd) and Show (February 8th) at Queen's Hall.

I have been struggling with my photography for the last couple of weeks and I'm not entirely sure why that is, or how to get out of this photographic funk. Each time I go shooting, I come back and review my images with much disappointment. I keep finding the images technically weak and thematically understimulating. I don't think all of my recent images are terrible, but they are nothing that I can feel proud of... nothing that I want to send home to my parents or print for a portfolio.

I think part of what's going on is that thus far, I've only been photographing whatever events and places I happen to be around so I'm inherently lacking the conscious engagement that comes with deliberately choosing your subjects. I think it's time that I start thinking more about what space I want to occupy while I'm here and what role I want my photography to play in helping to form my own space in Trinidad. While I wrote a few weeks ago about the documentary value of photography, "documenting" is far too wide of a task for me to actually tackle.

One of the things that I want to do while in Trinidad, which applies not only to my photography, but also to my studies at UWI and my general social and life goals, is to live, study, and experience life here in a way that can only be experienced here. I want to study topics that I can only study here, I want to make friends from here who can show me a side of life that only someone my age from here can show me, and I want to take full photographic advantage of this unique set of experiences I have here, that I can't get elsewhere in the world. Somehow (although I haven't figured it out yet) I want to leave here in May with a collection of images that I can carry with me throughout life to remind me of the particular chance circumstances that resulted in whatever particular experience I had here.

On that note, sometimes when I feel lost with photography, I find it helpful to look at other photographers work in order to consider styles I would like to emulate and incorporate into my own work and also to consider how different people approach photographing various subjects. One photographer that I've recently come across on Lightstalkers is a New Orleans based photographer named Andy Levin. The first of Mr. Levin's images that I noticed were his photographs of Haiti which are, obviously, very relevant right now, and particularly given the consciousness of the destruction in Haiti throughout the Caribbean. His images obviously tackle serious themes of devastation, poverty, and death, but his images are also very human, and in my opinion, very hopeful. Mr. Levin also has a superb photoessay entitled Remembering Katrina: A Carnival of Suffering which is also filled with deeply powerful, and sometimes deeply difficult images of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans, Louisiano hard and killed over 1,800 Americans. One of the elements of Mr. Levin's photographs that I admire is that they are not always pretty. Sometimes, if the theme of an image is something dark, it does not make sense for the depiction to be contrary to that. Form should mirror function, but that's not always easy. As a photographer, I always want my images to be pretty. This consciousness of form mirroring function is something that I want to keep trying to incorporate into my own work. This first time I've ever felt like I did that was with my images of the Kalinda Stickfighting Finals.

Another photographer that I've recently come across, whose work will hopefully inspire me, perhaps in a less morbid way than Mr. Levins work on Haiti and Katrina is a Russian photographer named Mikhail Galustov. Mr. Galustov, who I also found on Lighstalkers, is currently based in Afghanistan. While Mr. Galustov has photographed some politically and socially difficult places including Afghanistan and Caucasus, I am really intrigued by his portrait work. Mr. Galustov has potraits of military people, families, women, men, children, and each one is visually different yet somehow consistent. He also does interesting pairings of some portraits, which leads me to another thought about how images are presented. I think it's important to consider how your images fit in the context of other images around them. In the context of a set of images, which image you chose to place before or after an image will affect how your viewer perceives that particular image. That's one of the reasons why I prefer organized photo essays that present images in a calculated sequential order over images haphazardly presented in chronological order of uploads, like on a Flickr photostream, which to me feels like you've just vomited up an incoherent mess of images.

I don't know how much logical sense this post makes but I guess to sum up:

1. I feel lost and confused with my photography right now.
2. I think I need to decide WHAT I want to photograph in order to get out of this funk.
3. I'd like to keep working on mirroring form and function.
4. I want to give the presentation of my images as much thought as I give the individual images themselves.

Ready... Set... Go!

Carnival 2K10

2010-02-22T12:38:00.000-04:00

This is my flickr set of images from Carnival 2K10 in Trinidad. Images are from Canboulay Reenactments in Port of Spain, Kid's Carnival, J'ouvert, and of Blue Devils.

A Question of Color

2010-02-18T00:58:00.001-04:00

In the world of photography, there is much debate over which is best: film or digital, color or black and white? These are questions that intrigue me, partly because I cannot indiscriminately answer them. When working with film, I feel an intimate, almost parental, relationship with each image I produce. I cradle the image from its conception at exposure through its chemical development, and see its darkroom maturation into a full sized printed image. Film is a more time consuming process, but the results are worth it; true black and white prints are brilliant. On the other hand, digital is much more versatile and quick to publish. I can shoot 600 frames at one event, come home and after only a few hours of post-processing work, I can publish those images to the internet for the world, literally, to see. When working with digital, you also have the option of working in color or in black and white. Many photographers argue, and I would agree, that when the end product is a black and white print, film is the obvious choice, but if your ultimate goal is online publication, how does a photographer choose?

Thus far, I have been shooting exclusively digital, and working mostly in color because Trinidad is an intoxicatingly colorful place, especially during Carnival season. Recently, however, I shot the National Kalinda Stickfighting Finals and had myself wondering. The Boismen's costumes were mostly satin and all brightly colorful, adorned with mirrors and other bright additions, meant to distract the opponent. After reviewing my photographs of the night, I found that the adornments and bright costumes were doing just that -- distracting me from what I wanted my eye to focus on: the facial expressions of the competitors. It was a difficult decision, though, because some photographs I thought actually worked better in color than in black and white. Take the photograph, above, of a defeated boisman smiling and bleeding onto the collar of his costume as he exits the Gayelle. I think this image works well in color partly because of the hazy feel to the image and partly because there is just so much going on (the bright lamp in the background, the blood drips on the collar, the photographers and concerned teammates swarming him) that everything around him is almost spinning, but his inward expression of content with a good match comes through in color, and I was concerned that converting to black and white would make the blood stains less obvious.

Other images, like this one below, however, I think work much better in black and white.

In the color version of this photograph, I find the bright yellow jersey panels and headband to be too distracting, so I prefer the black and white version where the eye is drawn first to the faces, and secondly around to the rest of the image. In the end, I chose to publish all the images in black and white because I like the atmosphere in black and white. In color, I feel like I'm focused on the novelty of the bright costumes, or focused too much on the bright red blood in some of the images, but in black and white, I get an old newspaper photograph of a boxing match sort of feel from them and the costumes, and the blood fade to the background. Since one of my overall goals is to, through photography, conveying the universality of humanity around the world, I feel that working in black and white, in this case, makes more thematic sense.

It's going to be a tricky question for me to answer as I progress through the semester. Should I continue to shoot in digital for the ease of online publication and versatility in deciding whether to publish in color or in black and white after-the-fact, or should I shoot in film and commit myself to black and white before even reviewing the images. If I continue to shoot digital, should I publish more of my images in black and white in an attempt to strip away the distractions of "paradise" and costumes to get at, instead, the people that live here, or would I be crazy to leave out such a big part of the local culture, particularly in photographs of mas, by not taking full advantage of all the colors that weave themselves into this culture? For now, I think I'll take it one photoset at a time, and see where the images take me.

For more images from the National Kalinda Stickfighting Finals, click on either of the above images, or click here.

Glitter the Stage in Mas

2010-02-12T10:07:00.000-04:00

Last week we attended the Preliminary show for King and Queen adult carnival costumes, bringing out more than forty participants for males and females. This contest continues on to pick one king and one queen to own the carnival on parade day. Exceeding what I expected, costumes can be several times bigger than the person carrying it, made of iron, feathers, glitter, mesh, paint, and a lot of beads. These costumes were large and elaborate, showing the craftsman ship of the designer and celebration of various themes. Participants were not only judged on the costume’s aesthetic design and portability given its purpose, but also on their stage deliverance of the costume’s essence. Each taking a turn, the contestants smiled, marched, wined, and posed all over the stage to entertain judges, all to popular soca music even I could recognize. Though I was impressed by the massive size of these backpacks pranced or wheeled around the stage, it must also be a test of strength for those participants who carried the decor without wheel support. Yes, there were a few participants who collapsed at the event, on or off stage, but overall, the event went well.

I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to be at stage front taking photos with the various media crews. I also found that my role at stage front involved more than just taking photos, and discretely dancing to my favorite tunes. Some contestants needed moral support. At moments where a person looked nervous, they looked at me bobbing in the front and remembered to smile. At another time, the tribal mask fell off one guy’s costume, making him unfocused. All I could do was to nod my head and smile, as if to say ‘it’s ok, the show must go on,’ because I know that the performer never picks up a malfunctioned prop while in the moment, they have to work it into the show somehow. Then after pacing the stage a few laps he wheeled back over the mask to pick it up and held it near his face while grinning at me, as though he won a grand prize or found an old friend. I gladly photographed his triumphant moment and suddenly felt like I was meant to be there at their feet, beneath the stage, between the lights and audience.

It has been an interesting task to not only manually create the costumes by painting or stapling or gluing, but to document the creation process step-by-step and then showcase to judges. The designer even explained her theme idea to me and showed original sketches of the various costumes. Given that my purpose for attending the children’s masquerade was to chaperone the Lilliput sailor band named “S S UPRISING,” my initial job was to help assemble the banner, direct members to our tent, and put lipstick on the girls for a grand stage entrance (I do admit that being a cosmetician is a real skill and art in itself. Luckily I was handed one universal lipstick to apply). Even the three-year-olds were excited about dressing up and jumping on the stage in front an audience and judges. Too cute! I really appreciate Noble Douglas allowing me to help in the mas production, even though I came into the process at crunch time. I really felt needed and welcomed at Lilliput, not only for the mas camp production but in dance classes and general willingness to host me.

I was also really impressed by the children’s costumes, which were suited for ages 12-15 girls and boys. The designs, materials, and themes, were very sophisticated and festive. Even the size of the costume did not halt the participants from prancing around the stage with smiles, making the costume show a real performance. They were also judged on ability to portray the character. Theme varied from traditional characters or attire to dragons, the rainforest, and even makeshift pirate ships! I was also pleased to see that there was a lot of good sportsmanship present between the contestants as winners for various categories and placements were announced. Parents were supportive on and off stage, adding to this feeling of celebration and togetherness. In the end, I really enjoyed my experience in the Savannah of Port of Spain, Trinidad, encountering both visual arts and performance at the same time.

Pan!

2010-02-09T17:23:00.000-04:00

One of the documentary photography opportunities that I've had while out here was to get on stage with the Steelpan Orchestras competing during the 2010 Panorama Semi-Finals. These are my images from the competition.

Documentary Value of Photography

2010-02-06T12:56:00.000-04:00

Machinery in motion on ensilage cutter. Rockville, Maryland. Jack Delano, May 1940

Since arriving in Trinidad, I have been amazed by all of the documentary photography opportunities presented to me. My general approach to photography is that taking a photograph can be likened to writing a history textbook. Whether I photograph a major National cultural event in Trinidad, or simply ordinary Trinidadians buying groceries at the market, the permanence of an image still is a record of that moment. As with history textbooks, no photograph is objective. I was recently discussing this topic with a photographer who received his Bachelor's degree in History, and he offered this perspective as both a photographer and a historian:

Most of written history is quite subjective. Authors will interpret evidence differently from one another. They will find different truths based on how they, as ethical historians, interpret the evidence. For this reason, people who want to learn about history must read multiple texts from a variety of sources, synthesizing the information to make their own informed determination. In other words, there is almost never a single unwavering truth. Documentary photography is similar in that a photographer has a professional and ethical responsibility to capture and present an image—or series of images—that most closely represents the truth, an inherently subjective task. And, just like the reader of history, the viewer of a documentary photograph should always approach the image with a healthy dose of skepticism.

-Nathan A. Kirschaum, 2010

I am so fascinated by this big world we live in, and so excited at how this world is changing, that I want to contribute to leaving a record of the state of these places at the time that I encountered them. While I have different motivations for photographing a subject, at the core, it's the power of the image. Consider the images from the United States Farm Security Administration from the Great Depression until World War II. The United States Government hired American photographers to simply go and take pictures of every day America. The result is that now anyone can go online, and search this database to find over 160,000 images of our American history. Not all of the images are of any "significant" event, or even in the grand scheme of things, of any particularly "significant" individuals, but it is documentation of where our country was, and how our people were. Sixty years later, I can go online, search for my hometown and find the above image of farm equipment from back when my Washington, D.C. Metropolitan hometown was all farmland. As a visually minded person, I am more excited by images than historical texts, so having images of my country's history at my fingertips is unbelievable.

Now I am here in Trinidad, so I am photographing Trinidad. While there is of course documentary value in photographing this place regardless, Trinidad is in an interesting political and social position right now, which suggests to me that Trinidad today is going to be very different from the Trinidad to come. My Caribbean civilization professor, Ms. Sunity Maharaj explained to our class that post-colonial Trinidad is engaged in a sort of social dance, where different groups of people in Trinidad, in order to get along, are making space for the other while the other makes space for them. Trinidad is a place filled with many different religions and ethnic groups, and one might expect that all of those differences to clash, but in Trinidad, each group accomodates the other in order for all to survive culturally. The result is that the Indian population becomes Indo-Trinidadian, the African population becomes Afro-Trinidadian, and so forth so at the core, all people are Trinidadian, and to be Trinidadian is to have a sort of creole nature. With all this cultural negotiation occurring around us all here and now, Trinidad is unlikely to remain static, but photographic documentation can help leave a record of where a people have been and where they are going.

Some of my first documentary photography images from Trinidad are from the market in Tunapuna. With these images, I am beginning to explore how I go about documenting my encounters here.

Man in the Market. Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago. Andrea Wise, January 2010.

Which people do I chose to photograph? Which places? Which moments do I chose to immortalize? I think markets are a good place to start because of the routine nature of the moments you find. While carnival festivities are colorful and glamorous, and while I'd like to explore the role of mas in Trinidad culture, Trinidad is more than its tropical paradise stereotype of a place where beautiful women dance in the streets in sexy costumes adorned in sequins and feathers. Trinidadians also buy food, and have families, and go to work, and live lives of routine like those in the rest of the world. As such, entering the Tunapuna market, I looked for the faces in the market, and tried to capture the human moments that I found -- whether it was a young boy holding a toy car and looking at the price for parsley while his mother buys vegetables, or a pair of butchers joking around and asking for their picture to be taken. I wanted to photograph a woman arranging her peppers for sale, and an older gentleman looking sternly around with a gaze that reminded me of the way my late grandfather would look at me when he was concerned that my brother and I were playing too rough. I enjoyed the colorful produce in the market and I enjoyed seeing foods unfamiliar to me, but at the core, once you look past the exotic novelty of seeing pig tail and goat head for sale, the really interesting part is simply the people going about their daily lives.

For more of my images from the tunapuna market, please click on the image above or click here.

ONE: Challenge of Portraits

2010-02-05T16:40:00.000-04:00

I have found myself challenged by portraits recently.

I think that the personal is political, to borrow an oft quoted phrase. In this, I’m exploring how my own positioning as a young, white, American, bisexual woman with a camera can fit into Trinidad culture, or not, and how this will effect what photographs I can and will take.

I am concerned and mindful of a recent history of colonial powers in Trinidad, and in the Caribbean in general, but have only the faintest specifics of this history in relation to photography in Trinidad. I was studying abroad in South Africa the semester before this one, and there was also questioning my positionality, and desire to create portraits. I chickened out, if I can use such a term. What I mean is that I avoided asking for portraits of strangers. I became hyper aware of the history there of documentary photography in it’s focus on phenotypical documentation to support racial doctrine establishing that Europeans were more evolved physically, and therefore superior. Rather, I took portraits of friends in social situations, or portraits in my work environment.

With this knowledge of colonial interaction with relation to photography in South Africa, I am very unsure of how to approach portraits here in Trinidad. In South Africa, I stayed clear of shooting out of the window of a mini-bus while driving through various townships, and never asked for photographs, or took photographs of people living in these giant slums. In Trinidad, an equivalent is Sea Lots. I brought up this same discomfort there, as I was encouraged to photograph people liming around the shacks constructed of corrugated steel and found wood. However, as in South Africa, I found that I could not feel comfortable enough to snap a picture of men standing in front of a rusted car, for instance.

There seems to be an understanding too, that in introducing myself as a student, that I will be taking non-exploitative photographs. The assumption that I will not be gaining anything from the capture of a particular light on someone’s face is a fallacy. Even if it is so much as a simple accolade from a professor, or the inclusion of such a photograph in a brochure for this Trinity-in-Trinidad program, I am gaining.

I feel as though such documentation, by my part, is not for any greater purpose. I do not doubt or stand against wanting to document extreme poverty in a way that inspires action, but I do not think that I am situated to do that. As an American student particularly, I don’t have a feeling of importance enough to think that my image of Sea Lots and it’s inhabitants will inspire a change in the social, political and class struggles of this particularly placed group.

Part of my worries stem too, from the fact that I am in effect, publishing these images, without express permission to post them on this blog, on my flickr account, or to show the images to others. In knowing someone, I can at least feel more comfortable that the images I produce are consensual to the highest degree possible, and should offense be taken to an image, it can be remedied because of close contact, and assumed review of images.

Avoiding portraits is certainly a way to avoid interpersonal interaction, and a way to avoid more intrapersonal dialogue on the ethics of such image taking. With that, I have no qualms in stating that it is easier for me to photograph people that I know, rather than attempting portrait photographer of relative strangers.

Christopher Cozier and I have discussed my feelings on portraiture here to some degree, and have agreed that a challenge for myself would be to attempt portraits of Trinidadians as themselves, in a location like their home. In my mind, this would therefore require an exchange, and a redefining of own subjectivity as the photographer of a subject. This would refer to the “looking back” notion that Christopher Cozier reintroduced to my Trinidadian experience. Portraits are powerful representations of people, and I feel, that in order to create a powerful image, I must also allow for the greater exposure of myself as a photographer to subject, enough to allow for an interchange and exchange of being. Then, I can feel like I am creating a portrait of a person, rather than an economical, social, racial, or sexual situation or position.

The last thing that I want to do is to take a photograph of an individual, in order to represent an entire location and an entire people. This type of namelessness for a subject, the stripping of individuality and freedom of personal expression is at odds with my own positionality and relationship to other human beings and my personal politics. It’s too reductionist in my mind, to expect, in the same way, that my own feelings here represent every artist, so I won’t claim that my feelings here are representational of all the posters. I am however, of this mindset, and am alternately looking forward to and simultaneously dreading such photographic interactions.

I expect that this photographic interchange will teach me much more about myself than about what my images can say….

Mas is Child's Play

2010-01-31T00:15:00.000-04:00

In addition to the internship with Christopher Cozier and working with Alice Yard, I have recently taken on an independent study with Noble Douglas at the Lilliput Children’s Theatre. Not only has she allowed me to take a dance class with her students once a week and drama on Saturdays, but I am taking a hands-on role in a Mas Camp by helping to finalize costumes and create headpieces. This means a lot of fine details in decoration and included individually attaching sequins to collars for the four year olds. Given that I have never worked in a costume shop, every task is interesting, but since I am a visual and performing arts person, this venue and Mas Camp project really suits my interests and I look forward to new activities every week.

Though I must say, creating these 100+ costumes is a team effort. Parents, older school children, a Trinity student like me, and Noble Douglas herself, work together into the night to glue, sew, paint, and glamorize these outfits. I suppose this is the British influence of tea time which makes group projects into a social gathering for introductions, life lessons, and beverages. I just like the idea that people voluntarily take time out of their day to create intricate costumes for children, who will essentially walk in a parade one day and dance on stage for two minutes. I’ve already learned that it’s not about the monetary worth of the final product, but about the process of creating mas and the purpose of it in the lives of the children. Process, purpose, not the product: an interesting way to participate in art. I look forward to watching the kids prance and masquerade across that stage next week in all their glory.

“Mas” short for “masquerade,” which means 'to perform' and 'to transcend,' is the basis of Carnival in Trinidad. Costumes represent people in history and fictional characters of past cultural celebrations. While on Noble Douglas’ back porch, I was sewing antlers onto a headband and the young students in the open-faced studio behind me were presenting research in drama class. They spoke about some of the characters represented in Carnival (including the costumes we were making then) and gave preliminary ideas of their own ‘dream carnival.’ Besides being drawn in by the Trinidadian twang such young children have already learned, it was intriguing to learn about the history of Mas while they presented. I can already tell that this ongoing experience will be valuable to me as an artist, student, Barbadian, and human being in the world.

Perhaps my final project can involve children or children's artwork or costumes. After all, Mas is child’s play.

Musings on the Image

2010-01-27T23:27:00.001-04:00

Today got me thinking about what images do to us and how we relate to images. In our first Festival Arts as Creative Performance class, Professor Tony Hall challenged us to think about performances as "per-formance," and to consider the way in which a performance transcends form, time, and space. During a performance, the performer momentarily ceases to exist, replaced by the idea and concept and energy of the performance--which is usually something that cannot, should not, and need not, be diluted with descriptive words. During the performance, there is no individual performer, only what exists on the stage and the experience shared by the performers and the audience. I think this kind of concept also applies to images.

In photography, I've found myself most drawn to images of people and I've long thought that the power of portraits lies in the commonality felt between people--that I look at an image of a person and I feel a connection to that person as I am reminded of what we all have in common. Today, however, I had a different thought. Perhaps the human connection we feel when looking at images of other people lies not in the human identity of the subject, but in that once a person's entire existence is flattened into a still image and is condensed down to merely the amount of time it took for the shutter to close, the image is no longer of the person, but now is just a still performance.

While photographs feel incredibly factual and reliable, they actually are in many ways the most deceptive form of image-making that there is. An abstract painting does not try to convince the viewer that it is grounded in reality, but a photograph by its very nature does. A photograph is believable as fact because it is simply a physical still rendering of the dynamic bustling active world around us. But life cannot be condensed into a fraction of a second without losing something. Or without losing everything, perhaps? The photographic moment loses everything except the portion of life confined by the frame during the allotted time. In that way, the people depicted in a photograph lose their entire identity once rendered by a camera, and instead become something else. They become a vessel for projection. I see a person and my mind editorializes by creating a world of situation and ideas and factors leading up to that moment when--CLICK!--the shutter closed. I see an image of a person and I feel connected to him or her because during the moment that I look at this image, the only thing that actually exists is the dialogue between my eyes and my mind, as prompted by my still performer.

This prompted me to think about photographic ethics. Take this photograph above, for example, of a young woman and her beautiful daughter. As a photographer, you are always in a space interacting with the subject of your photograph, but your audience sees only what images you produce. If I see a beautiful young child and chose to photograph her holding her mother's hand, I aught to consider what sort of editorializing my audience may do in their placement of this scene in an imagined world. If I take this same type of photograph from one angle, I have a backdrop of a beautiful picturesque waterfront with commercial banking buildings across the water. If I take the photograph from the opposite angle, I have a backdrop of Sealots, one of the poorest areas of Port of Spain. The two photographs would convey wildly opposite ideas about the subject of the photograph.. whether intended by the photographer, or not. It's an idea that every photographer must be conscious about and must make decisions about. Both scenarios are of a reality, both are documentary, and neither is in and of itself misleading, but it is the context surrounding those images and how those images are used that dictate whether or not the photograph is factually documentary or simply a still performance.

Here's to new beginnings

2010-01-24T22:19:00.000-04:00

Hello there, all you friendly readers of the Trinity Alice Yard project! I'm Andrea Wise, a third year Studio Arts student, concentrating my studies on photography. I'm incredibly excited to work with Alice Yard, and to experience how the vibe of the space changes from event to event. I will be working primarily with photography, as I've found the lens to be a therapeutic way for me to filter the world around me and process and document my personal development over time. I love stories and I love people, and I love the way that images allow you to tell stories, real or fictitious, and to share a bit of ones experiences with others. This world we live in is such a fascinating and dynamic place and I like to document the art that is life through photography. I've posted my first few photos on my multimedia photography blog, Don't F-Stop and look forward to integrating that blog into my work with Alice Yard over the next semester.

-Andrea

The Journey Begins...

2010-01-23T22:38:00.001-04:00

Hello! I am Jeanika, a sophomore, also studying in Trinidad this semester. With the few encounters I've had at Alice Yard, I look forward to many new experiences as we indulge in a colorful, new culture. I am excited about everything this semester has to offer including meeting new people and becoming involved in the developing art community in Trinidad.

Though I am primarily into drawing, photography has recently caught my eye and this adventure abroad is a great way to enhance my observational skills as I learn the ropes of digital photography. Rather than focusing on direct portraits, I like analyzing my surroundings: the plants, industrial development, interior decor/structure in homes, and animals. I like geometric lines and color, though I do admit black and white images have a voice and power of their own. It will be the people living in this new environment who contribute there own "lines" to my work.

Though I am not positive of what my final project will be in the end, I am keeping an open mind to experience every aspect of the culture, including visual and performing arts. It will be a journey to remember. Follow my adventure on flickr

Introductions!

2010-01-23T17:34:00.001-04:00

My name is Nicolette Laume, and I am one of three current Trinity students studying with Christopher Cozier for this semester.

My focus will primarily be photography this semester. I've started by looking at the fantastic textures and colors of my surroundings, but can not yet tell what my focus will evolve into during my time here.

A link to photographs that I've taken from the start of 2010 will be posted on my flickr site.

Picturesque Pictures

2010-01-08T13:28:00.001-04:00

“Appropriately, in the region renowned for light, photography – a medium based on the chemical reaction of light particles on sensitive film or glass negatives – would become an important instrument in the imaging of the islands.”

"Diamond Vale View" was taken from a hilltop and it depicts a typical tourist image where everything is blue and green. It is a compelling image free of modern elements.

An Eye of the Tropics is an informative narrative contradicting the notion of a tropical Caribbean. For me, it was eye opening to read about the ways in which the Caribbean had been transformed into a tropical destination. The characteristics that make the islands tourist destinations were merely creations of Western imagination, which were forcefully imposed upon the land and people of the islands. Krista Thompson eloquently and factually delved into the re-presentation of the islands, mainly Jamaica and Barbados, by focusing on the visualization of the space.

Thompson supports her argument that the idea of a tropical island directly resulted from Western imagination by providing numerous examples of how photography played a major role in advertising the countries unnatural beauty. At some stage in the early 1800’s Europeans avoided traveling to the Caribbean because it was a breeding ground for disease. However, once the sugar economy failed, colonial holders had to invent another way to support their properties. They used artistic representation to exploit the tropical imagery of the Caribbean. Majority of the flora and fauna of the Caribbean were imported and marketed as indigenous to the island. For example, in some parts of the Caribbean silk cotton trees were brought to the region from South Carolina, but photographers often used the giant tree as a focal point for their images. No longer were Europeans fearful of disease; instead they wanted to experience the cool breeze, relax and observe the locals.

This got me thinking, as a person photographing pre-independence homes, how am I contributing to an oppressive view of Trinidad. I have been taking pictures of houses from the colonial era and adamantly promoting conservation of these homes. Does that mean that I am also promoting a primitive lifestyle? Am I stuck in Trinidad's past? Society is hell-bent on moving forward, accepting the change modernization brings. But instead of appreciating the new structures, I find myself comparing them to the old and favoring past ingenuity. It is interesting that people were predisposed to the tropical representation of the Caribbean and visit the islands with hopes of experiencing the fabricated environment. Imagery rarely show the islands as is, sometimes cars and cables are eliminated from pictures/paintings in order to preserve the primitive island look.

This is similar to the first image, however we can see how different the "Same Tropical View" looks once the picture is taken from another angle.

At some point, Mr. Cozier mentioned that Caribbean artists tend to focus on the picturesque past. Although the country is trying to become more modern, the artistic representations of the island are still stuck in the past. Art rarely incorporates the harsh reality of Western influences. Instead it omits progress and promotes tropicalization. According to Thompson, tropicalization describes the social and physical consequences of a complex visual system that was created to promote tourism and build an economy. In analyzing my current stock of photos I am a bit worried that I may have been guilty of adding to tropicalization. Despite the fact that Trinidad is not truly considered a tourist island, it still has some compelling features. At some point Trinidad's attraction laid within the various architecture. I have edited some pictures where I cropped out some unsightly wires to make the image look less cluttered. But I would argue that I am not doing this to keep Trinidad in a picturesque past, instead I am doing it to highlight the beauty of the past and omitting as little as possible.

Unfortunately, Trinidad does not seem preoccupied with preserving much of it's history, instead it is moving hard and fast towards a more modern version of an island. Trinidad is one of the few islands that does not completely depend on tourism to support their economy and in an effort to set itself apart from the others, the country lost interest in preserving the unique aspects of its heritage.

Trinidadian Architecture Before and After Independence

2009-12-17T16:57:00.000-04:00

This was a very modern adaptation of bungalow styled homes.

Initially, I wanted save architectural heritage. Not actively lashing out at the government, picketing or non-violently obstructing bulldozers, but I wanted to save an image of national heritage in my photographs. I don’t claim to be a photographer, but I have an interest in photography and apparently, in old buildings with unsaid significance. After traveling around POS, driving through Diamond Vale and touring the different areas of Trincity, I’ve come to a relatively recent revelation that may contradict a previous blog.

From the beginning I acknowledged that I had a fascination with pre-independence homes. My motivation to take pictures of these houses stemmed from the ongoing controversy concerning conservation. If I were not introduced to the topic at all during my stay in Trinidad, surely I would have taken a few tourist pictures of the homes for my private collection. However, I was informed about the lack of awareness governing the importance of these homes and I deemed it necessary to save some that are on the verge of extinction. Why? Something pulled me in that direction. The houses are beautiful on the surface yet it has so much relevance within the context of Trinidadian history.

In a previous blog, the Phenomenology of Space, I expressed how discouraged I was with the fact that I felt nothing when interacting with various spaces. At the time we were walking in Newtown, but I also felt the same apathy towards older houses in other parts of POS. That was alarming to me because I thought I should feel something, anything, when interacting with the spaces I eagerly expressed interest in before. Now I realize that the nothing I felt was in fact something. Something is pulling me towards these homes, but I cannot articulate what that something might be. I thought that my interest did not go beyond the aesthetics of the house and I watch in amazement every time I pass the magnificent seven, but I had to wait until I photographed a modern house to recognize my appreciation.

Taking pictures in the Trincity house was difficult because of inefficient light. The dark/light contrast is not intention in this picture as it was in the Gingerbread series.

As I stood outside of the first house in Trincity I found myself looking for things to take pictures of and it was that moment when I realized how my interaction with the older houses are in fact more than nothing. Typically when I photograph pre-independence homes I would point and shoot. Just like that. Everything was intriguing and beautiful; the shapes were extraordinary and the shadows were somehow different from the image it originated from. On the other hand, the bungalow in Trincity did not have the same effect. Instead I had to create reasons explaining why I was taking the picture. For example, the tiled walkway wasn’t interesting to me but I reasoned that since old houses were also tiled it was significant to compare the two, so I took a picture. I was not interacting with the house on the same level as the old ones and worse yet was when I took pictures of the interior.

Taking shots of the interior was extremely difficult because the lighting was terrible. When I photographed another version of the Gingerbread house I did not depend on artificial light. Breeze and light passed through the house freely and it was more than enough to take pictures while keeping my body at a comfortable temperature. The Trincity house was dark and even though the homeowners explained that they knocked down walls to open up the space, it was too difficult to capture images (unless I had a tripod). Interacting with the spaces in Trincity proved that the structure of a house crucially influences the way people feel and maneuver within the space.

After I left the gingerbread house I felt as though I wasn’t finished, like I still needed to take more pictures. Of what? I have no idea, because the house was small and I don’t think I missed too many architectural details. If I went back I would be capturing the same type of images, but after photographing the bungalows in Trincity I felt quite opposite. Once I stopped taking pictures, that was it, I did not want or feel the urge to take more. The houses in Trincity were different from the pre-independence houses I encountered throughout Trinidad. I am always amazed to see wooden structures surrounded by concrete houses in areas like Tunapuna and Arima. It just reminds me that at one point all of the houses looked like gingerbread houses with detailed fretwork and front porches. Interestingly enough, I think it is easier to find a deteriorating house than to find an untouched bungalow. It was common to find renovated bungalows in Trincity but people are less likely to renovate colonial houses. Perhaps that can attributed to the fact that it’s easier to maintain a bungalow since concrete does not deteriorate as fast as wood.

The materials used nowadays are not very conducive to the environment; however, lamenting on the past does not really change anything. Yes, the older homes are beautiful photographic specimans, but people are not intersted in functional beauty they are more intersted in dysfuncctional progression. Simplicity and comfort comes with a price.

Already Grieving for an Imminent Loss

2009-12-10T10:06:00.000-04:00

The Boissiere house a.k.a. The Gingerbread house front view taken from across the street. Click for more images from the NY Times article.

Within the first week of being in Trinidad, I was introduced to a prevalent issue surrounding the value of architectural heritage. While on a tour of Port of Spain, the Boissiere house was pointed out to my group and a few words were said about its current state of neglect. Those words stuck out to me so much that weeks later I expressed interest in expanding my knowledge on the subject. Almost immediately I was given a list of names to contact for further information. Conversely, I was more interested in capturing these decaying homes rather than talking about them because at the current rate of progress occurring in Trinidad, especially in Port of Spain, these buildings would disappear soon.

Only recently have I been involved in any discussions about the house that initially peeked my interest. After the bus tour and venturing out on my own photographic endeavors, I watched an interview with Colin Laird where he mentioned the importance of the Boissiere house for Trinidad and history. Next, I read blogs written by Nicholas Laughlin and others concerning the issues of the house. Eventually I was able to meet with Sean Leonard and Rudylynn Roberts, both architects, who also have strong opinions about the state of the house. I pulled a lot of information from these readings and interviews to get a good understanding of the significance of the house to the country and people. It is obvious that the controversy surrounding the house stems from the country’s lack of concern in preserving its past. About a year ago, the owners put the Boissiere house up for sale. Greta Elliot (maiden name Boissiere) inhabited the space, but a Scotsman named Edward Bowen imagined it into existence. He lived in Trinidad for quite sometime; therefore it is assumed that he was well acclimated with the climate. If you don’t want to assume, then take some time and analyze the house based on its architectural and structural details.

Honestly, I had no idea I was interested in architecture before coming to Trinidad. However, I attribute this newfound fascination to the ongoing debate concerning the value of architecture in Trinidad. Somehow it makes me feel like I am either experiencing something rare or I am involved in a discussion that will be important for future conversations. If in fact the house is bought and knocked down, I will feel sorrow for the loss Trinidad obliviously allowed, but I would also feel lucky to know that I was able to witness a magnificent building before it disappeared. However if the building does, by some miracle, get an investor who wants to renovate and put it to public use then I will be content knowing that I was aware and somewhat involved in the dispute regarding its status within Trinidadian society. If my children ever said, “Mom, I went to Trinidad for a semester and I saw the Gingerbread house” I will have a story to tell them.

Currently the house in question is stalled, locked up in political and social discrepancy preventing buyers from investing and keeping the bulldozers at bay. One of the people adamant about saving the house is Nicholas Laughlin, a blogger and editor of The Caribbean Review of Books, who has written and kept track of dialogues surrounding the topic. In his February 14^th, 2008 article entitled, “Can We Save the Boissiere House,” he talked about the growing trend for destruction. He suggested that the community has waited around too long and should consider putting a stop to the eminent devastation. The Boissiere house should be the last straw, or at least the community should take a stand against this one since many others have already disappeared without much protest. But what stood out to me, and to Mr. Laughlin considering his lengthy response to the same comment, was the anonymous contributor who stated that they wished they could burn the place down themselves.

On the one hand, I could understand why people would associate the heritage of the house with only Greta and her family. However, the house is up for sale, it should not be considered solely the family’s property. Arguing that the building has no relevance to your personal history or Trinidad’s for that matter, suggests that you did not investigate deep enough into the subject. According to Colin Laird, an architect responsible for the National Library and various other restoration projects, the Boissiere house belongs to Trinidad just as much as it belongs to the owners. It is a precious piece of Trinidadian history and should be saved. In any other country it would have already been on the National Trust list because it is unique and tells something about the architecture from that age. If the family is willing to part with the house doesn’t mean that Trinidad should let it go just as easily. Initially I was also under the impression that these homes are not very representative of Trinidadian heritage, but as I have learned, the buildings contain intricate elements that need to be analyzed in order to interpret them. Which is similar to what Mr. Laughlin was saying is his reply to the anonymous commenter. A part of me wished that Mr. Laughlin had replied to another post suggesting an alternative use of the space.

Wrecking the house to make room for a health center may be a good idea. It could be more beneficial to Port of Spain than leaving a dilapidated house to cover over and eventually fall apart on it’s own. But why couldn’t the restored building house the health center? And if space becomes an issue, then you can still argue that the piece of land isn’t very large anyway. As for building vertically, then the new building would resemble the rest of the buildings that stick out as odd formations in Port of Spain. Is it so bad to have a modern business ran inside an old building? After all Mr. Boissiere ran his business from the study.

As the saying goes, there are always two sides to a story. Well, for this story there are about four sides. One concentrates on the family’s reasoning for putting the house up for sale and their ideas about the value of their property. The other story has to do with the potential buyers and their intentions. The third aspect incorporates the conservationists’ speaking out against the treatment of the house. Finally, but probably not last, the forth point of view revolves around the Trinidadian community. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been exposed to the third story the most, I have taken up a position resembling their ideas. Not to say that I don’t have my own opinion concerning conservation, but after some discussions I definitely changed my outlook. It is necessary to have historic buildings open to the public because people are always curious about the past.

To prove my point I’ll go on a little tangent, take for example dinosaur bones which have been found and analyzed to such an extent that archeologist are now able to produce computerized recreations of the earth during that time period. Without those bones, investigation into our past would have been a bit more difficult. Even though no one has any memory of living amongst dinosaurs, their presence still lives on in fossils so that curious humans can deduce stories. Similarly, the Boissiere house is like dinosaur bones in that it may be one of the greatest examples of Trinidad’s past and if the structure remains intact then specialized researchers can delve into the architecture to reveal something about the past. I would argue that it is in human nature to leave something for future generations, so what is being left for the future? Memory is such an important aspect of living and for the anonymous commenter who implied that it is better to leave things to memory, I would ask what happens when memory dies out with the storytellers? Once this house is gone, not even bones will remain; everything will be erased from memory and history. At the very least it will all die with Greta’s children. Saying that something has no meaning to you does not mean that it does not have a meaning to someone else: one mans trash is another mans treasure.

The interior front room of the Boissiere house also taken from the NY Times article

Not only does the exterior of the house say something about the family and about Trinidad, but so does the interior design and usage. Coming from an architect, Sean Leonard, I respect his opinions about the architectural value of the Boissiere house. It has some very unique aspects that you can’t really find anywhere else in Trinidad. You can tell that the people who lived there had money, more than likely they were plantation owners because that is what Trinidad was at the time when this house was built. More than likely The Gingerbread house was a vacation home for the family. However, I doubt that many people know about the house beyond its pretty structure. For one, it represents a past that many don’t want to relive, but Sean thinks that there is more to be said about the history separate from oppressive memories. Now is a good time to tell people about these features of the house, so that citizens can learn why it is necessary to be grateful for this building and others like it, which are disappearing fast.

Unbeknownst to Sean, he mentioned something that clearly had a deeper meaning than intended. Numerous times during the conversation he would call it The Gingerbread House as if to say that it is the official name of the house. This whole idea of a house having a name is also quite interesting because naming something infers that you are giving it meaning and presence. The fact that the house has been dubbed The Gingerbread House long before any talk of selling, buying or demolishing proves that it has already been accepted as an important feature in society. So why do people ignore this fact and let it sit in ruin?

We can assume money has a huge role in dictating the treatment of the house. Mrs. Elliot put the house up for sale approximately a year ago for 60 million TT because, we assume, she needs the money and because the house is hard to maintain. That price has since reduced to 23 million; clearly she knew that the house is worth a lot. As soon as one hole is fixed, ten more will surface and that can get stressful for a homeowner. It’s quite obvious that if anyone were to buy the house the easy way out would be to demolish it. Not many people are willing to buy the house, pay more than the asking price to restore and renovate it, then willingly give it back to the community, much less keep up with maintenance for the rest of the time they own the property. That is why it would make more sense for the government to buy the land, fix the house and reuse the area. Granted, as noted in the NY Times, some people have invested large sums of money in remodeling their old homes, but they are a few of a handful.

As for the government actually taking responsibility for the house, Mr. Leonard knows that a document was drafted roughly 15 years ago listing the various places that should be protected. Unfortunately, the National Trust has not come to a consensus, why? The February 26^th article in The Express by Andre Bagoo provided one explanation: a “bureaucratic disagreement.” In addition, the government claims to have no money to invest in these types of projects. Never mind they just built a National Academy for Performing Arts for a large sum of money and currently building a theater for the Prime Minister in his backyard. For some reason Trinidad has the mentality that it is better to move forward with modern structures while leaving the past in the dust. In some ways it is disrespectful to our ancestors to disregard their communal efforts.

It’s a shame to see any of the unprotected historical buildings go, and if anyone was still alive who had a helping hand in creating one of the buildings lost to modernization, then I am sure that a part of them is hurt. To know you put so much effort into an activity and to see or hear it was wiped away in a matter of hours is traumatizing. In a way national pride, which was not something I associated with conservation, is damaged. Mr. Leonard introduced the idea to me by prefacing with the fact that Trinidad didn’t have to pay so much money for their football team to go to World Cup qualifying match. But they did and it helped to increase national pride because everyone was walking around sporting their flags and proudly supporting the 11 players on the field. In the same way, maintaining and keeping these houses would boost the pride of the laborers knowing that they/their ancestors were responsible for putting together such a great creation that is nationally known, respected and valued as a piece of Trinidadian heritage and culture.

On a deeper level, is it possible that the act of realizing some buildings need to be saved is indicative of modernization? The acknowledgement that there is a past and it is worth saving is something that developing societies can identify. So in addition to building structures that look more like they fit in a different city, Trinidad could demonstrate their intellectual tolerance by recognizing that the past is worth saving.

As a woman who already recognizes that the past is worth preserving, Rudylynn Roberts, architect renowned for restoration work and founding member of Citizens for Conservation, reminisced about a time when she triumphantly helped to push a part of Trinidad’s past further into the future. You should have seen her, her eyes lit up and a slight smile peeked through the inner turmoil constantly and unknowingly expressed on her face. But even though she is stressed about her work, Trinidad, the economy, the new building, the prime minister, she couldn’t help but to show a sliver of happiness as she rehashed the successful story of the George Brown House and birth of Citizens for Conservation.

Approximately 20 years ago, a house built and designed by George Brown in 1888 was in danger of being demolished. George Brown was an important architectural contributor to Trinidad beginning in 1883. He was responsible for fireproofing buildings, utilizing cast iron in functional manner and introduced fretwork. He is responsible for producing and influencing the unique buildings that are in danger or being torn down now. According to John Newel-Lewis, another architect and author of Ajoupa, “Port of Spain without George Brown? ...[would have looked] attractive but without class, without style and without panache,” which is why the house should be restored instead of demolished. So when Mrs. Roberts received the call from a friend who saw the bulldozers situated near the residence, she quickly responded. Immediately, Mrs. Roberts rallied as many people she could, approximately five, went down to the house locked arms and stopped the demolition. Within a day T-shirts were printed saying “Save the George Brown House”, a vigil was scheduled; radio announcements and flyers promoted the protest against destruction of the house and within two days the Prime Minister arrived on site. There were hundreds of people around the area all standing in support of keeping and preserving the house, hard to imagine since the same thing is happening now with a different house, but the reactions are not the same.

Rudylynn Roberts asserted that the Boissiere house is probably one of the best examples of Caribbean style architecture. What does that really mean? As I’ve discussed in Architectural Heritage with Rudylynn Roberts what makes a building distinctly Caribbean depend on two things. The fact that it was built to fit the climate of the country and the laborers were local. This house was undoubtedly constructed with the country’s climate in mind and almost every structural design has a function.

Noticeably, the house was built off of the ground, which is one of the most distinctive features of a Caribbean structure. Building a house on stilts allowed for privacy. As I’ve noticed, many Trinidadian homes are built rather close to the street and having the house raised from the ground gave a bit of privacy. Not only that, but air flowed under the house which helped to circulate cool breeze throughout the house. Lastly and most importantly, it kept the timber/floor dry to prevent rotting. This idea of building on stilts was taken from the adjoupa, Amerindian style of constructing homes. It is amazing to still see evidence of such a distant past in a relatively modern structure now almost irreversibly damaged.

As mentioned, Amerindians indirectly had some influence the design of the house, but so has other cultures/countries, thus giving it the rightful title of Creole. For instance the pagoda is a style taken from Chinese construction, who have also inspired the painted glass in the study. The architect was of Scottish decent and the fretwork and cast iron was imported from Scotland. Italian workers had a hand at painting the fresco inside the house. And the wrap-around porch was distinctively from the Spaniards/French. Functionally, the porch was essential for preventing direct sunlight from entering the front room. It became a cool place for families to sit and interact with the community; people would eat, people watch, play games, everything on their porch. Nowadays, everyone is locked indoors with air conditioning limiting socialization. All of these different styles could be found in other areas of the world, but here they are combined and implemented in a way that is specific and unique to the Caribbean.

Another structural technique used to build houses, which can also be found in The Gingerbread house lay within the wooden beams. Framing the house, these structural support beams were covered by a lime mortar and brick, incidentally ideal for the climate. Lime mortar allowed the stones/walls to breathe. It is more flexible and softer than Portland, cement that is often used in restoration, so when the ground moved the bricks could adjust easily. It is not advised that Portland cement be used to restore a building, although it is being used in some cases, because the cement is too rigid and could cause cracking in the walls over time. Also the lime mortar will allow moisture to escape via evaporation faster to keep the walls dry. Ironically, if Trinidad decided to go green (as suggested as reply post to Mr. Langhlin’s blog), the Boissiere house would probably be more environmentally friendly than the newer, more modern buildings.

Notice all of the opportunities for air to flow, even on the side of the house. See Nicholas Laughlin's photo collection of the Boissiere house.

As mentioned, Citizens for Conservation was created shortly after the George Brown uprising; the members vowed to help preserve as many buildings representative of Trinidad’s heritage. Unfortunately their efforts are futile. It seems as though their most successful project occurred some 20 years ago and now it’s not their fault that so many buildings are disappearing from the county. They have left a list of only 30 buildings (and trust me, there is a 10 page list out there) that the National Trust should consider protecting under law, but that list is seldom discussed. The new project for Citizens for Conservation has to do with tax breaks for the people who are living and restoring their own historically significant buildings. And even though the National Trust is not making much of an impact as yet, they are in the process of trying to gather money for the already inhabited homes in need of repair. When asked about the current state of the organization, Ms. Roberts mentioned that people are tired. There are rarely any new, young, energetic members willing to put up with the constant let down. Most of the members have been doing this for 20 years and Mrs. Roberts is one of the youngest.

A part of me thinks that if I had this conversation with Mrs. Roberts in September I would have been much more involved with Citizens for Conservation. So far, I have been a below-the-radar supporter of maintaining these nationally recognized, but locally ignored establishments. However, the few people I’ve interacted with have strongly voiced their Mr. Laughlin thinks the house is important to society, Mr. Laird sees it as a indispensable caricature of Trinidadian heritage, Mr. Leonard believes that it will further improve national pride and Mrs. Roberts simply wants to preserve the integrity of old Trinidad in a developing environment. Obviously, each person shared the same opinion: the Boissiere house should be saved. It surprises me that the value of this house is only understood or voiced by such a small group of people. Then again, a popular overseas newspaper (the NY Times) published an article, “A Painted Lady in Distress,” summarizing the discussion of architectural conservation in Trinidad, with a focus on the Boissiere house. The NY Times article should have been an advantage for the conservationists’ yet little has changed since the day the house was put for sale. In theory, now that a foreign paper is expressing the same thoughts as some of the locals, the country will take heed to the quiet pleas and find a way to invest and save this national treasure.

The Phenomenology of Space

2009-11-10T20:24:00.001-04:00

While walking down the streets of Newtown I was asked to explain any senses I had about the space? I couldn’t say it then because I was worried I would seem too disconnected from my work, but honestly I felt nothing. No thoughts came to mind, no words came out of my mouth, not even a bullshit sentence. How do I articulate a scholarly response reflecting deep analysis when I barely have any opinion on the matter? I get the impression that I am supposed to know exactly what it is I am supposed to accomplish and have some answer to the prompt, but this is not the case. As I walked down, up and through the streets nothing about the use of space stuck out to me. What I did notice of course was the gradual move towards a more modern form of settlement. There were few houses with fretwork and even fewer made of wood. Beyond those two architectural characteristics, I am at a complete loss.

I am ashamed to admit that felt absolutely nothing as I walked past these houses and I can not begin to "read" now these spaces are inhabited. My mind rarely questions the lifestyle of the people in the space, yet oddly I do have an unexpected appreciation for the structure. Anytime I see a building I focus on the exterior, I look for unique features, contemplate the purpose/ function and continue about my way. However after reading The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard, I was able to somewhat formulate what it is that intrigues me. On a very subconscious level, I am responding to the physical manifestation of imagination.

The author relates the experience of reading poetry to the type of daydreams people have about their childhood homes. The emotional connections felt when one reads a piece of work is similar to the phenomenology of inhabiting intimate spaces. He suggests that the house is a physical manifestation of imagination; the space is first designed in the mind and eventually becomes a protective (thought up by architects) and comforting (created by the residences) shelter. People want to protect themselves from what they fear (the outside world) by building a shelter to enclose themselves in safety.

One example of this lies within an aspect of inhabiting space that I so easily overlooked. Although I’ve noticed and registered the fact that Trinidadian houses are very close, I turned a blind eye to it because I did not know what else to say about the proximity. I just thought that people were short on space here so it was necessary to built houses close to each other, but maybe it is more than that. According to Bachelard, the closeness is a way to make residences feel safer because they know they are near a helpful neighbor. And another trend he touched on that I hadn't pieced together on my own was the idea that houses have minimal interaction with the environment and becomes artificially/superficially constructed the closer it gets to a city surrounding. While it is happening at a slow rate, I agree that the houses built now, especially near major city-like areas, stand out visually, structurally and in terms of its functioning within the environment. No longer do they have pleasantly useful architecture that infers a certain amount of information about the creativity of the architect while still effectively utilizing the climate of the country.

At Trinity College in Hartford Connecticut, I had taken a “Science in Art” course where the art world had been revealed to me. I wonder if artists intentionally created artwork. While there are some situations where some pieces dubbed “art” was created intentionally, we had looked at a few where accidental masterpieces. As with the case of Van Gough, who painted over some of his own paintings proved that he was more interested in expressing his imaginative ideas rather than displaying art. What he created was not for art sake but he painted because he wanted to show what was in his mind. In a similar fashion, the architects have created houses and other buildings originating in their imagination. I realize that I am fascinated with the fact that people think these functional houses into existence.

Furthermore the book helped me to see that my phenomenological experience may just be very different from others. It’s expected that my personal history affects my initial interaction with each house, which would be different from someone who has lived here long enough to see the gradual changes. For instance, it’s incredible that Christopher Cozier can easily point out 1930’s glass or the approximate year a fence would have been built or surmise that a house was renovated more than once in two different eras. Either way, he seems very knowledgeable about the subject and it is evident that he experiences and interacts with the same space on a different level. I’ve been told that I am too oblivious to my surroundings, maybe that is why it's so hard for me to verbalize my phenomenological encounters with these spaces.

Architectural Heritage with Rudylynn Roberts

2009-11-09T14:03:00.000-04:00

An abstract representation of "Progress" in Trinidad. Here we see past, present and future all in one image.

On November 6th I attended a lecture at UWI given by Rudylynn Roberts about architectural heritage. For the past two or so months I've been wondering exactly what architectural heritage means, i.e. why do we consider certain edifices and/or houses to be important enough for later generations to experience? It’s not as if I do not perceive the nostalgia of these buildings, but what exactly do they say about the culture? Of course, some buildings clearly represent the past; there are old colonial buildings from different eras including the Spanish, French and whoever else. Interestingly enough many of the architects were not Trinidadian, which added to my confusion. Why are these pre-independent buildings culturally significant even though the Trinidadian imagination is exempt? What do they have to offer a modern society, besides a pretty version of a not-so distant, tormented past?

I read Architectural Heritage of the Caribbean by Andrew Gravette hoping to get a straight-forward understanding of the meaning of the term. The first few words in the first chapter talked about climate and emphasized how important it was for architecture to be able to survive within the natural surroundings. One of the simplest ideas I initially overlooked was the fact that the Spaniards who came here probably knew little about construction, so they would have had to follow an already established (working) structure. They took ideas from the Amerindians (Ajoupa) and incorporated some of their own ideas to make a Creole version of what they were accustomed to seeing. This implies that every structure has some element of Amerindian influence and therefore has some value to a society that knows little about Amerindians. And as the years passed by, even the imported peoples found ways to integrate their modifications on the Trinidadian "style".

In conjunction with Mrs. Roberts talk, I gathered that the main reason for dubbing buildings culturally symbolic and representative of heritage has to do with: 1. the effectiveness of the building within the natural surroundings and 2. the creativity of the architect. According to Mrs. Roberts, it's not about the original nationality of the architect, but their intent for creating the designs. On the other hand, nationality is important to note for the people who labored to make the imagined designs come into existence. The houses were built by Trinidadians and designed by foreigners for Trinidad. So we have to look at architecture as an important aspect of Trinidadian heritage because it implicitly connects the people to a tangible structure.

The talk as well as some of my own photographic evidence highlighted aspects of Trinidadian architecture that are somewhat unique to the country. The tiles, fretwork and glass used generally added charm while increasing functionality within the environment. Even though some of the materials were imported to Trinidad, the way they were implemented is what made it unique to the region. I have been trying to document these rapidly disappearing houses. Just by existing in this modern society, these houses silently impose a kind of significance. Christopher Cozier mentioned how the same architecture people are getting rid of now had once been tourist attractions. Exactly what has replaced this type of attraction? Will people come to Trinidad to see the big skyscrapers and large industrial factories? For now, it seems as though the government and most citizens are disinterested in trying to preserve a past window into their history and artistry. Trinidad does not value what they had, instead they insist on knocking down the old in favor of propagating an image of a modern and developing nation. Perhaps, they are trying to free themselves from this notion of being a tourist island and working on having a more sustainable economy.

Click here to see more Architecture

Creative Spaces in Trinidad

2009-10-23T12:47:00.001-04:00

Alice Yard is currently undergoing construction. Somehow the small space in a tiny backyard will be expanded to accommodate a variety of artists.

Being around the creators of Alice Yard, a space for imaginative and creative people, I keep hearing over and over how Trinidad lacks "artsy" spaces. It's as if the whole island is indirectly trying to neglect the local artists. The establishments created to promote creative expression in Trinidad do little to motivate and support local artists. Andre Bagoo comments in his blog about some of the ways in which Trinidad is trying to improve their creative centers (to read more click here). In some ways people believe that Trinidad does not encourage creative expression, even though this country is famous for their whimsical two-day costumed Carnival. Somehow I was still shocked when my newly-made Trinidadian friend told me via facebook chat that this place doesn’t have the market for photographers. And I wondered what that meant? What place has a market for photographers?

In my opinion, artists always struggle to find a market for their work. Sure an add may be placed in the Newspaper for a studio or wedding photographers, but it's rare to see an art gallery searching for art work. The market for photographers, or any form of art, needs to be created by the artist. It doesn't matter where one goes, the market for art will always be a tough area to penetrate, but the options which help to create the demand is the key component, not the market itself.

Options for increasing creativity among the public include having buildings such as museums, art galleries, organizations geared towards inspiring young or old artists, even institutionalized programs, etc. But for some reason, I was under the impression that there are no museums in Trinidad, no art galleries, no option to express and showcase imagination. Interestingly enough, the more I research (online) and venture out the more I find that it is just not so. For example The National Museum and Art Gallery is in Port of Spain, which has two smaller branches of museums. There are other small art galleries throughout the island so it's not that the art world is non-existent, but there just aren't many outlets. However, the options are still available and seemingly expanding.

So far I have been taken to three art galleries, three more than I expected to visit in Trinidad, honestly. I was taken to In2Art, a gallery in St. Ann's, which is basically a hole in the wall. When we pulled up to the building, I thought it was just the entrance to an apartment building. Granted it looked freshly painted and the door seemed brand new, I couldn’t believe this was a gallery. However, when I walked into the space there was a refreshing cleanliness reminiscent of a typical gallery. The walls were stark white, fluorescent lights brightened the space and detached walls separated areas of the room. According to the curator there were three rooms and I thought to myself, "how could they possibly fit three rooms in this small building," but it was well done. At the time The Tallman Foundation, an organization that promotes artistic expression in young adults and teenagers throughout Trinidad, had their work on display. These adolecent artists had photographs depicting Hope, Love and Faith on every wall of the gallery; there was even a video recording of the purpose and drive for the work showing in the back room for anyone interested.

Horizons Art Gallery was another place I visited that seemed spaciously small. Comprised of two buildings, side by side, where one was the gallery and the other was a sort of gallery shop, Horizons displayed beautiful oil paintings by Harry Bryden. Although the images highlight an overly romanticized past, the creations are still very pleasing to the eye. The artist is of Trinidadian ancestry, which (similar to In2Art) was another example of Trinidadian art displayed in a Trinidadian gallery. A part of me expected to see non-Trinidadian art at these galleries, so it was nice to see Bryden's work on display in a somewhat nostalgic looking building. The outside of the building had fretwork, however the inside lacked the past characteristics so elegantly portrayed in the paintings and exterior design.

Soft Box Art Gallery "Hallway for Display" shows how paintings are on showcased on the walls similar to family pictures in a home.

Located in St. Clair, the restored old house turned art gallery seemed too small for the amount of paintings on display. Dispite the limitations of the building, the curators have done a wonderful job of making the space feel bigger than it looks. Artwork was displayed in nearly every room including the kitchen and a small sitting area. The only areas I did not see artwork were in the storage room and photo studio. A small commercial photography studio is run in the same building, so even though there was no art on display the rooms still had an arty vibe. I thought it was an interesting use of space because it examplifies one way Trinidad could invest in supporting their local artists while preserving architectural history.

The building was renovated but still had many of the old characteristics. The fretwork was still very visible on the exterior, however glass covered the inside fretwork so that cool air wouldn’t escape through the old ventilation system. There was still old tile work on the floor in one of the gallery rooms, which gave it a different feel from the dark hard wood floor at the entrance and in the hall. Even though the building is a gutted and repacked version of a house, it still felt homely to some extent.

All of this is to say that, while I am not very versed or experienced with Trinidadian art, from an outsiders perspective the place seems to promote artistic expression. Whether that comes from a national level, private organization or instigated by the community is not a huge concern. The fact is that there are some very nice spaces willing to display local artwork.

For more images of art spaces in Trinidad, click here.

A Tiled Car Park in Trinidad

2009-10-21T21:15:00.000-04:00

"Tile in the Car Park" shows the tile work (probably) left over from a house that once occupied the same space where the car park is now situated.

While walking along the streets of Port of Spain, we come across a seemingly normal space: a parking lot. Nowadays it is normal to see car parks, but has anyone ever stopped to wonder what used to occupy this very space? Highly doubtful. I've been told that Trinidadians like to live in the moment, in the present, with little focus on the past or future. With that ideology, I really don't expect many people to notice the odd usage of this space. Honestly, I too walked blindingly past the parking lot the first time and if it weren't for my mentor I would never have known the difference.

Christopher Cozier made sense of it, he explained that some quintessential pieces of architecture are being destroyed and, in its place, car parks or office buildings are created. I do not know what it is, whether people cannot afford to keep the house in working condition or if they are just selling it for the large sums of money. Maybe people are fed up trying to salvage a rotten house. Perhaps it is easier for the owners to give up the homes, but for what? More wealth, which would be spent paying off the higher electricity bill because of the overuse of air conditioning? Either way these culturally symbolic homes are being wiped out.

Some may argue that it's more beneficial for the community to have space for parking as opposed to having a worn down house. After seeing the spontaneous street parking (talk about creating space where none is provided) it is not a wonder why car parks are necessary. In some cases, cars would park facing the opposite directions on the same side of the street. For this and many more reasons, putting down concrete where a house used to be is necessary for the foward movement of Trinidad, or so it is believed. To any unsuspecting passerby, the parking lot was a great way to clear up the road for moving cars.

Here are "Opposite Facing Cars" parked on the street, not in the car park, still taking up road needed for driving.

This particular car park is on St. Clair. It is situated between three houses, one on the left, right and behind it. I guess this isn't a huge difference, but I am accustomed seeing parking lots next to stores or at least down the street. Maybe I must have missed the store, but as far as I know, there was none immediately close by. To me, just the fact that the car park is an empty area between houses hints at the previous domestic use of the space.

The second piece of evidence eluding to this theory is the fence in front of the car park. The details and design of the fence is, if nothing else, reminiscent of the old types (which are scarcely found in Port of Spain). Assuming that iron rusts after a long period of time, it's possible that the fence has been standing for many years and still is even though the house it once enclosed is gone.

Finally, the final clue is the tile under the fence. It gives away the previous use of the space because it stands out the most. The tile work adds a hint of unique beauty to the otherwise plain looking car park. Tiling was and, probably still is, popular in homes, so the fact that tile is under the fence really gets the point across. Maybe people don't want to live in the past, but why not demolish the whole site instead of leaving these historically insignificant objects to taunt Trinidadians who actually remember.

Although I say insignificant, which does no justice to my sentiments about the space, what I really mean to say is that the non-existent physical structure could have expressed a story or revealed some sort of history. The architecture could have been a great way to keep Trinidad's culture and heritage alive, but it's a bit too late for those hopes. All that is left are these easily forgotten, quick to walk past with no second thought, objects that imply a deeper meaning.

For more Car Park pictures CLICK HERE

Preserved 1930's Trinidad House

2009-10-16T09:49:00.000-04:00

This image was taken in the front room where the majority of the family photos are displayed. This particular one is entitled "Portrait" for obvious reasons.

My name is Stanita Clarke and I am a Trinity College student studying in Trinidad for a semester. I chose to spend half of my senior year in Trinidad because of all the wonderful stories previous study abroad students have shared with me. So far, Trinidad is treating me very well, I am not sick nor is it snowing. With that said, it is a pleasure to have the opportunity to learn in such a comfortable environment. As a student I am compelled to submerge myself in the world of academia. One aspect of my learning experience is to investigate Trinidad through photography. I am currently working on a series of images pertaining to the unique architecture in Trinidad. My hope is to preserve the memory of the "old" Trinidad, even though a more modern Trinidad is progressively taking over the country.

My first set of images are of a house in Port of Spain on Piccadilly Street. Dubbed the "Gingerbread House", possibly for its ostentatious wood work and extremely pointed roof-tops is an example of Trinidad's past struggling to survive modernization. I am told by my mentor, Christopher Cozier, that these houses are on the brink of extinction. So many of them have been bulldozed that it is becoming more and more uncommon to witness such marvelous structures. Which is a shame because they reflect so much about Trinidadian culture. Not only does the outside depict architectural work specific and unique to Trinidad, but the inside conveys particular details about what people cherish and how a home is put together.

According to the owners, the house was built in the 1930's by a Trinidadian architect. They have lived in it for 55 years (1954) and managed to keep almost everything original. The kitchen and bathroom were the only areas completely renovated mainly because of inconvenience. The kitchen was located outside behind of the house, but now that they have extended the house further back the kitchen is incorporated into the house. Some repainting and touch-ups have been done just to keep the place vibrant. It is becoming a common trend for windows to be boarded up so that air conditioning could provide the cool breeze. But as I have experienced, the open windows and fretwork around the top of the house allows enough breeze in to keep the family cool, not cold.

The whole house was brightly lit with natural sunlight streaming in from the "Front Door" and neumerous windows strategically placed throughout the house.
Link to my first photo set here.

At one point the Gingerbread House was considered a modern structure, but never Western. Now, these houses are being replaced by buildings that fit Westernized standards rather than fitting into the climate/environment of Trinidad. I am not sure if Trinidad has realized the saying (as yet):" You never know what you've got 'til it is gone."

Trinity of Trinidad

2009-05-11T01:56:00.001-04:00

I’ve spent the past four months living and studying in Trinidad and Tobago, pressed with the challenge of photographing and documenting aspects of the culture. On a straightforward level, I assigned myself the topic of exploring the performance of religion in Trinidad, as well as the performance of mas during Carnival season. Along the way, I’ve experienced culture shock while trying to negotiate the temporal and special cultural differences embedded in the flow of everyday life. The issues that face any photographer were a regular struggle: developing an eye, communicating with the subject, arranging composition and form. Yet because I was an American student transplanted into a different country, I had to be aware of the history of colonialism and ‘orientalism’ that shaped the foundation of Trinidad, and how European/American photographic history in the Caribbean has reflected a colonizer/colonized narrative, as the European eye visually controlled its subjects, recasting the landscape to fit a mold of economic exploitation and tourism which highlighted the ‘native’ and the exotic. Keeping this in mind, Trinidad has confronted me with my own identity within a new space. I am a young, white American female with privilege and access to institutionalized education. I am leaving mainstream ‘normative’ American culture to foray into a Caribbean locale of religious and performative tradition, all of which have been shaped in relation with the colonizer discourse. I have to be mindful of the idea of a camera as a weapon for controlling, recasting, and stating truths that may exist only in my mind. But at the same time the camera can be merely an open, absorbing receptacle to an existing landscape – allowing the camera to function as an unconscious extension of my cultural encounters, of my personal background and my emotions, and my individual eye and visual perceptions. My photographs have concentrated primarily on the theme of performance. Carnival is all about playing mas, becoming a character, and through that character or alternate persona, really being you in a liberated, transcendental state. I find that sort of emancipation through performance is similar within religious tradition as well. Trinidad and Tobago is saturated with religious imagery and rituals, from Hindu pujas to Catholic burials to Shouter Baptist celebrations. The rituals are performative in nature – religion is a communal event, connecting people to each other and to the idea of another spiritual dimension. And as a photographer, I find the matrix of colors and forms to be revealing, a creation of a visual language to explain the unconscious. I don’t pretend to be an expert at any of this. My entire experience here has been very amateur: only skimming the surface of what it means to be Trinidadian. But this encounter has provided me with a re-evaluation of myself and how I can connect to this liberation narrative, finding out how much of me is about being American, and how much of me truly belongs to a wider community.

Catholics gather in the early hours of Good Friday to watch the re-enactment of Jesus Christ’s trial and crucifixion through the Stations of the Cross at Mount Saint Benedict Monastery in Tunapuna, Trinidad.

Probably the first striking thing about Trinidad and Tobago is the way space is conceptualized and utilized differently than in America. Architecture comes in a variety of forms: modern, Western cityscapes exist side-by-side with empty lots, homes put together from spare materials, marketplaces erected in the shadow of a KFC. The space seems entirely human made, rather than sterile and mass-produced. Even the writings of a menu on the wall, or the business hours of a store, are hand painted. People move seamlessly through these industrial and rural spaces, as they always seem joined together. Trinidadian time moves differently as well, not necessarily in the linear, frantic pace I’m accustomed to in New York. Things happen when they happen, and moving somewhere can be as much as part of the experience as actually arriving or accomplishing the goal. The way people occupy space has caught my attention. It has taught me to see Trinidad in terms of spatial movement: how the landscape reflects layers of experiences. Empty space is as significant as ‘meaningful’ space.

A gravedigger dances while assisting in the burial of Parang singer Tito Lara at the Santa Cruz R.C. Church, as family members look on.
One of my first true “cultural shocks” in Trinidad was when I attended the Catholic funeral of Tito Lara, a Parang singer in Santa Cruz. His funeral was highly publicized, as he was a well-known and beloved member of the community, and in attendance were family, friends, and Trinidadians from all over the country that came to pay respects. I was caught off guard upon entering the Church grounds: the space was occupied by numerous people, sitting, standing, liming among the graves, which were organized rather haphazardly; they were dug in a seemingly random manner, often blending into the environment as they were covered with dirt, grass and leaves. This contrasted significantly with my American funeral and graveyard experiences, which are always very pristine, sterile, and tightly organized. The Catholic funerals I’ve attended at home made a point, it seemed, to distance the event from what it really means to be dead and buried. Family members left the graveyard before the burial of the coffin, whereas at this funeral, the coffin was lowered into the ground as the crowd looked on, crying, singing, and tossing dirt from the earth onto the coffin. It was practically a transcendental experience for me, as I was thrust into the crowd, and ordered to take pictures by people standing around the grave. I was nervous with adrenaline and unfamiliarity: I was standing practically barefoot in the very dirt that was picked up to toss onto the coffin and sealed into the ground. It was difficult to locate myself in this chaos of noise and movement, and I sort of let the camera take over and connect with my instincts, using it as a barrier between the experience and myself. I would absorb and process the event much later, but in the moment, the camera functioned as a cultural translator for me, recording a time for my consideration later, when I was at a safe distance. This reflects a tension that I had while photographing almost all events in Trinidad. I had only academic, second hand knowledge of what would be occurring at the event, and while I was inside the moment, I had to balance between becoming overwhelmed by the new experience and taking a detached, documentary viewpoint. I tried to let the camera speak for me, to pick up what was happening and perhaps the photographs would bear testament to my own confusion and misunderstandings.

A girl works a marketplace both in the streets of Siparia during La Divina Pastora, a religious festival held on Holy Thursday. The statue of La Divina Pastora, kept by the local Catholic Church, is shrouded in myth and is said to have miraculous powers. Every year, Hindus migrate to the site to pray and give offerings to the statue and the poor, as an Indian bazaar is held in the streets around the Church to accommodate visitors.

Perhaps one of the most obvious experiences I encountered while photographing in Trinidad is the danger of reducing subjects, who are, to me, “foreign”, as “others”, especially in the historical and social context of colonialism and racial exploitation. As a white American, I had to be aware of the role I might play and assumptions I might make: that Trinidadian culture is foreign, not “modern”. That I might frame what I see only in terms of differences from my American experience. The cultural encounters had me as an outsider trying to find meaning in a visual experience, and I was afraid to disrespect the event by focusing on the wrong aspect, framing the event as something it was not, or something I mistakenly assumed it to be. I was often uncomfortable to approach strangers with my camera, using it to capture them for my own edification. During La Divina Pastora, many people swarmed in the streets of the bazaar, selling and buying, interacting with intensity. I took this opportunity of movement and confusion to prepare myself mentally with determination that I would take portraits, no matter what, and without really showing ‘mercy’ to people. I wouldn’t be shy, I wouldn’t ask permission, I would just use the camera to surreptitiously get a sense of how people looked during a transaction. One of my favorite portraits is when I aimed my camera at a young girl looking rather bored as her mother completed such a transaction. She was staring away when I raised the camera, but as I clicked, she turned towards me. She has a rather intense look on her face. I felt that my determination to get shots of people was matched in her gaze: we were both staring each other down. This was a moment when I was able to get more comfortable using a camera in Trinidad.

Children in mas pass by an old building during Children’s Carnival in downtown Port-of-Spain.

Something I liked to experiment with was the idea of seeing beyond what was objectively the surface of an image. For instance, catching the backs of children’s mas during their carnival, the way the free-flow of their white costume was a stark contrast to the old, weathered building in the streets of Port-of-Spain. Art against an institution of function. One of my failings is that I am not very skilled at interpreting meaning in the moments of photographing. I tend to find interesting quirks and forms afterward. Sometimes I can sense when there is an interesting contrast happening, but I am not able to fully process it until later. Finding shapes, colors and lines within a mundane setting is one of the aesthetic things that I enjoy about photography. I am interested in using different perspectives, forcing myself physically to move my body to lower or higher levels, to see something in a new way.

Players in Carnival Tuesday pass by a homeless man in downtown Port-of-Spain

The image of the Caribbean as exported to the rest of the world is one of sun, sea, and sand. A vacation, a paradise. Yet this imaging is constructed by those who wield power and influence, who are exerting their control over place to market it to other Americans/Europeans. Trinidad is outside the predominant tourist industry, but it is still presented as a place to lime, a “get away” from the “real” world, a place of music and fun. The realities and context of the Caribbean need to be considered when photographing. It should not be objectified as either a tourist paradise, nor should the poverty and distress be a central focus either, which renders the Caribbean as destitute, in need of help that only “first world” countries can offer. Trinidad is much deeper than that.

Shouter Baptists celebrate the annual holiday of Shouter Baptist Liberation Day, which commemorates the repeal of the 1951 Shouter Prohibition Ordinance, which forbid Shouter Baptists from gathering to practice their religion.

Trinidad is a land of struggle and emancipation. The country’s history is riddled with suppression of freedoms and creative self-expression, and tension among different ethnic and religious groups. The Shouter Baptists were prevented from practicing their religion by the government, for example. When photographing, it’s helpful to be aware of the nation’s history, to pick up on the significance of certain events, such as the marginalization of certain peoples, and what the social norms are in terms of religious identity. Shouter Baptists tend to be on the margins of society, as they fuse Christianity with African traditional religious practices, which can be seen as threatening.

A vendor sells framed images of Jesus along with various Hindu devas and devis during La Divina Pastora in Siparia. The event brings together Hindus and Catholics, as Catholics worship during Holy Thursday mass, and Hindus pray and give offerings to the statue.

Trinidad is a multi-cultural society featuring the encounter between Africans, Indians, Chinese, Europeans, all sharing different languages, religions, and traditions. There are many divisive lines between these cultures, yet what is more interesting is the ways that they interconnect and affect each other. The European colonial influence is obvious, but the ways that tradition remains provoke attention. The celebration of La Divina Pastora on Holy Thursday brings together Catholics and Hindus, and the bazaar outside the church reflects this, as vendors cater to both Hindu and Catholic iconography. There might be a distinct cultural separation between Christians and Hindus in the country, but everyone is Trinidadian, and the ways that they come together are examples of fusion and exchange.

A mausoleum in Lapeyrouse Cemetery in Port-of-Spain is juxtaposed against the PowerGen energy plant, which provides electrical power to Trinidad and Tobago.

Religion plays an omnipresent role in Trinidadian society. Religious imagery is everywhere. Bumper stickers and the name of God are invoked on cars and public transportation, churches and temples are found on nearly every block. The distinction between the secular and the spiritual is blurred when walking through the streets of the country, everywhere are symbols indicating the existence of religious life: jahndis, Christian t-shirts, pictures of devas and devis, rosaries. The role that religion plays in Trinidadian life appears to be so normalized that there is little transition between religious practice and symbolism, and secular, daily routine.

Actors dress as biblical figures in the crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday, during a re-enactment of the Catholic Stations of the Cross at Mount Saint Benedict in Tunapuna, Trinidad.

Almost immediately upon arrival in Trinidad, we were told that Trinidadian culture itself could be viewed as a kind of mas. Performance is central to all human beings – we all perform outward personalities, we role-play when interacting with other people. But in Trinidad, the act of expression through symbolic meaning seems to carry more resonance. The religious undercurrent in Trinidad seems to be an extension of this: involving yourself in a larger, transcendental community, playing a role within this community, outwardly projecting something intrinsically spiritual and indefinable, making the spirit visible. Performing religious rituals connects people to their environment and makes a space for the self in the world. It’s using creativity to make visual meaning out of physical objects. The Stations of the Cross, re-enacted on Good Friday by Catholics, is a literal example of performing religion. It’s a mas, ritualizing the death of Jesus. The photographs I took of the Stations of the Cross are some of my favorite, because the experience felt surreal: people dressed as biblical figures, playing ‘God’ and his followers. The images I took were blurred not just because of the dim lighting and movement, but because the moments, or ‘stations’, of action, felt static like a painting, or something dreamlike. The Stations of the Cross helped validate the meaning of performance-in-religion in a real way for me, because it involved a moving truck with loudspeakers announcing the narrative of each station, and the men who were ‘whipping’ Jesus carried and cracked their whips identical to the Carnival Jab-Jabs. All along the journey to the final station, Catholics trailed behind, stopping at each station to take a moment of pause. It was eerily reminiscent of J’Ouvert dawn, or Carnival Tuesday – a group of people walking a set path, a moving truck with bellowing music and announcements, and periods of rest, functioning like the ‘judging points’ of Carnival. Except instead of jumping and wining, people were solemn, carrying candles instead of cups filled with alcohol. The connections between performing mas and performing religion were quite apparent to me during this religious re-enactment.

A young girl dances in the rain during Children’s Carnival in Port-of-Spain
Photographing Trinidad has been a challenge for me, in confronting my own identity and how I am received and perceived in a new culture. It’s been about encountering different conceptions of time and space, using the camera as both a mechanism of capturing others and shielding me from a direct encounter with culture shock. Recognizing Trinidad’s history, context and routine imagery has been part of the experience in rendering moments. Overall I’ve identified a theme of performance – performing mas, performing religion. These both serve as tools of emancipation to transcend the self. Within a defined social space, moments of liberation and transcendence can occur even within a ritualized and pre-conceived performance. Perhaps it is these well-known guidelines and repetitive structures of ritualized performance that help bring us together and beyond the mundane. Photographing Trinidad has been about constant negotiation: between my culture and this culture, feeling out the tensions within this culture, finding connections, balancing a comfort level between subject and photographer, and understanding the relationship between ritual performance and spontaneous performance. The theme of liberation through performance is central to what I’ve understood about Trinidad: that transcending the ordinary is part of the human condition. It manifests itself in both secular and religious outlets, and sometimes the two are indistinguishable.

This friday

2009-05-06T20:32:00.000-04:00

click here to see Alice Yard site for event details
Read below for project notes

Haben: Mother Mas Is Alive (Thematics and Outline)

2009-05-06T15:56:00.000-04:00

Manifested Hope: Mother Mas and Her Global Community

“Mas is me and I is mas”- Tony Hall

I approached this paper as an artist write up of the experiences, processes, motivations and sources that led to the Mother Mas creation. As a result of cultural performance, immersion and social activism influences, Mother Mas is able to critique, encourage and teach her global community through vocal and play performance. The premise of this paper is “Mas is me and I is mas” in which questions of community, performance and emancipation are undoubtedly formed. As part of the creation of Mother Mas these questions needed to be researched, experienced and learned. Through analysis of some art texts and concepts of installation, memory work and modes of art circulation Mother Mas was built along fundamental lines in order to aid her in strengthening her global community and its consciousness. Alongside text references a major resource component of my search is my personal experience and relations I have built within my own cultural space, allowing the Caribbean context to inspire my work fully.

The themes of the Mother Mas project are a culmination of my mas, artistic experiences, artistic and social discourse and found art of Trinidad. My Carnival experience in February 2009 and Temple of Hip Hop involvement primarily motivated my Mother Mas character formation. In conjunction with the Carnival experience, I have studied festival arts as cultural performance, circulating the birth of Carnival and its notions of emancipation as critiqued by my professor, Tony Hall, the author of “Jean and Dinah”.

Mother Mas was created from my experiential learning in playing Jouvay mas, Carnival Tuesday as well as participating in a plethora of other Carnival activities. Furthermore, the understanding of my participatory position in a tradition that grants me emancipation of identity, creativity and behavior has contributed to forming Mother Mas’ role and purpose. The concepts and readings I have been greatly inspired by in terms of structuring this project have been Derek Walcott’s ‘broken vase’, V.S. Naipaul’s “Middle Passage”, Tony Hall’s “Jean and Dinah”, Annie Paul’s “The Repeating AlterNATIVE”, Boris Groys’ “Politics of Installation”, David Scott’s “Introduction: On the Archaeologies of Black Memory”, Krista Thompson, Cornel West and Gerardo Mosquera. My musical inspirations for the project include conscious hip hop group Blue Scholars, Immortal Technique, Sam Cooke, Deitrick Haddon, Billie Holiday, Anthony Hamilton and various other gospel and conscious artists.

Secondly my theme of a mas celebration is indeed social commentary and discourse through the vocal art form. Violence has been growing across a global scale; particularly in my neighborhood of Curepe some community aspects are shifting as people try to take more safety precautions. This trend is not significant only to Trinidad or the islands, and in turn Mother Mas sings about her pains and the social woes that plague her global community; her vocal song cry is an outcry for hope. Mother Mas has a place amongst the turmoil and violence of any nation; she is the hope potential for change. In mas, she represents emancipation from these social issues, allowing a space for discourse as well as critique. Ideally, Carnival mas characters are always performing and engaging hence why I felt it was appropriate to incorporate vocal performance rather than solely implementing still life paintings or scenery sketches as final exhibition of my experience and research.

In the initial planning stages of this Mother Mas project I planned on painting a series of canvas pieces, each depicting a different social issue in Trinidad. One canvas piece would depict the issue of teen pregnancy; another would represent violence and so forth. It was not until I read Tony Hall’s play, “Jean and Dinah” that I began to strongly reconsider my performance planning. Through Hall’s text, my understanding of mas playing as performance, rebirth and emancipation began to shape Mother Mas and her message. The plot includes two female best friends Jean and Dinah and on the morning of Carnival Monday, Jean tries to unsuccessfully convince a sick, bedridden Dinah to play mas. Here is the excerpt that encouraged me to break out of the common art exhibition approach I originally planned and bring Mother Mas to life through movement and performance. The text reads as follows; it is an argument between Jean and Dinah:

JEAN: “Today is our day. If we don’t play [mas] today, we might as well be dead.”
DINAH: “I played some of the best mas in this place. So you, nor nobody like you, can’t tell me about mas. Mas is me and I is mas. And I am telling you that I am staying in my pissing bed, here today.”

Dinah states that “Mas is me and I is mas” which is a culmination of Mother Mas for me. No one can define mas for Dinah because she has made it her own; she has always connected with mas tradition for a lifelong while. Mas is an invocation, an awakening of new spirits and tapping into an inner self yet to be found. For some, mas is a tool to reconnect with an inner self that has always existed. This is the definition I apply to Mother Mas. Following my Temple of Hip Hop experience I have witnessed how mas has pushed me to an even further conscious understanding of myself as an activist, singer, artist and poet. Mother Mas allows me to try new art forms such as spoken word, an art form I have always been interested in but have never attempted to perform. For this Mother Mas allows me to tap into a deeper part of my creativity and will to take on such a challenge.

Mas, in the context of Jean and Dinah is used as an eliminator of problems, a temporary medicine to ease their life’s pains and heartaches. On the contrary my Mother Mas is the truth teller of violence, poverty, and inequality; Mother Mas is the reminder of issues though her mission is to give hope to a global community. Mother Mas signifies ‘memory-work’ and ‘freeing up’ from societal issues through consciousness. Mother Mas, unlike Jean and Dinah uses mas as a platform to display and express her societal sermon, not to mask herself behind it.

The third element to the creation of Mother Mas is found art. This aspect was headed by Thea Button, my project partner. Thea’s interest in understanding space and our positions as island visiting artists encouraged her to find and merge remnants, artifacts, trash and any movable objects that reflect geographical community and Trinidadian identity. The found pieces represent a momentary piece; an art piece built depending on what could be found in specific moments. With the objects Thea found, combining the ugly, unsanitary and uncensored parts of Trinidad with a Mother mas character representing hope, change and protection of Trinidad initially appear to be extremes. Thea was determined to make a found art piece created from people’s trash, thus formulating beauty from rubble but interestingly this signifies Mother Mas’ beautiful hope for the world regarding the stains of violence, corruption and poverty. Furthermore I as the Mother Mas character will wear Thea’s found art creation as a costume during the final performance.

thea: thematic outline

2009-05-06T04:37:00.000-04:00

This place is it. Where we are now we must embrace. Time, space, circumstance, whatever, understand it, and if you don’t, try. Do not transplant your past, your “home”, your preconceptions on this place. Own it. Open yourself to what it has to offer. What we have is a snapshot, it is one view of a huge world. Extrapolate, expand, but do not diminish. Humanity has a common bond and universal themes but it is the individuality that makes each instant important. We all have pasts and we must learn from them but not allow those pasts to rule our present or we run the risk of sacrificing what is for what could be. It is in honor of that fact that I began my project. I took a method I had learned in another place and time, found art, and applied it to my current project and situation. And at first that worked. But I slowly realized that I was bringing too much of my past into it and I needed to learn and absorb more from my present. The universe thought so too when the cleaning lady did her job, and in cleaning up my collected trash, also provided me with the clean slate upon which to build my project as it should be. This event coincided with an opportune conversation with Sean Leonard that meshed my project with Haben’s and forced me to pull a little more Trinidad into what I was doing. And that is how I got to the idea of Mas, after all, what is more Trini than carnival, embracing the creativity it takes to take something out of nothing, and performing with confidence and presence.

I was of course blessed with a space that by itself meant something. Trinidad as a whole has infinite faces and opportunities, interesting personalities, and great energy. But Alice Yard as an individual space is a gem. If culture is shaped by art, then Alice Yard is doing a great deal of shaping. Every type of art and artist can be found there and anything can be facilitated. A can do attitude, an open mind, and a safe space can take you far when it comes to fostering creativity and I have found Alice Yard to be an invaluable muse. Combine that with in depth readings about art in an international context and I was better able to see Alice Yard as a lens with which to view the rest of the world but still able to understand it as a oasis, a special, individual sanctuary that can only exist as a product of the environment it exists in, in the moment.

I am who I am right now. I am not the me of next year, last week, or even tomorrow. I am partially a product of fate, partially of industry, and I am only so good or bad as my actions and what comes of them. I am a person and I could be anyone but my circumstances have led me to be the me of the moment. I have to accept serendipity as a huge component of my being. That is something that I did choose to bring to the table while planning my mas. I could not control the mas in the way I would have liked if I were building it from scratch: I did not have the budget, the materials, the skill, or the man-hours to build a formal mas. However, by implementing the mas with my original plan of found art I was able to circumvent those problems simply as a result of the medium I was using.

The mas I created was a product of this place, this now. It is a result of the greatness, the energy of Alice Yard. It is the outcome of my semester in and understanding of Trinidad, and the consequence of my eye, which is in itself the product of my experiences internationally, both artistically and experientially.

By using elements such as phone cards, I was able to capture a physical component of Trinidad, which I believe has a greater meaning. The whole process of phone cards in Trinidad is symbolic of something far greater than the simple ability to call down the road. In the states I have a phone plan, I pay it monthly, I have an agreement with the phone company to be a customer and they agree to keep my service running 24/7. This involves complicated legal contracts that bind me to them for two or more years and can be slightly problematic when they don’t provide the quality of service I am expecting, But at the end of the day, my phone calls out when I need it to and I don’t really have to pay that much attention to it. Here however, I need to continuously buy phone cards, running from one to the next, discovering, as I have, late at night, that I have run through all of my minutes and still need to make calls but unable to obtain more minutes. It is such a tenuous agreement, no long term security, no cushy convenience of a once a month bill. It is momentary, living in this minute rather than the next, no future plan, simply a call, right here, right now.

It is the same concept that "liming" follows: what I am doing right here, right now, supersedes everything else in importance. It is a moment-to-moment experience, more raw and in touch but also more haphazard, pieced together. It is real, human and a key part of the Trinidad experience.

But my experience in Trinidad is more than just the “Trinidad experience”, who I am makes it what it is for me. This mas, phone cards and all, is a piece of my soul because I am in it because the me that I am no longer exists without the mas and the mas, as it is, would never exist without me.

thea: home stretch

2009-04-28T19:12:00.000-04:00

dear reader,
whether you've been following our blog since we began or are just here to check us out pre-performance, I just want to say, thanks. As Hab and I wrap up, finalize, hammer out details and generally near the finish line we realize how much we appreciate the support and encouragement of our mentors, our friends and the artists who have taken time out of their busy lives to speak with us, influence us, and impart precious knowledge to us. We would not be where we are now without you.

today we had a rehearsal/brainstorm during which we went over details, finalized our script, and staged our performance. We had a lady open second story door over looking the yard and give Haben a standing ovation after she belted out her song. Paul came by and gave us some encouragement (and helped me undo a problematic screw). Susan Nunez came around and we grabbed lunch and shot the shit. Chris, as always, gave creative critisism that both frustrated us and pushed us in new and better directions. Chris, you have been an absolutely invaluable resource. We would not be where we are with out your constant pushing and prodding, your challenges and your expanding of our artistic and intellectual horizons. You know by now how to push our (specifically my) buttons and aggravate us, and we by now know that you do it with the purest of intentions and for the best results.

this is not my final post but close to it. please excuse the cheesiness, its par for the course when the end is in sight.

thea: my music video debut

2009-04-28T12:14:00.000-04:00

Alice Yard is a special place, my favorite in Trinidad and definitely top 10 internationally. From the first time I walked in to the space I knew I had found something important and I have tried to spend as much time there as I could whether I was just liming there with Haben and whoever else came through or working on this project. Simply being there has given me all sorts of cool experiences, meeting awesome artists like Greta Mendez, bands like 12 and 3Canal, and last weekend, I even landed a spot in the music video of Hot Water by Gyazette .
I had been there all day painting tables and chairs for our performance, I was wearing my Jouvey shirt and all in all I must have looked pretty special. But when the band and video crew rolled up they would not let me fade into the back ground, instead pulling me in as an extra. We had a great time, dancing along to Hot Water, which is an awesome song. I met a bunch of the other girls and the band members and a few expressed interest in maybe coming out our show on May 8th. All in all it was a pretty great experience. Sean Leonard seemed to have fun too. He could not get over the fact that a music video was being filmed in the Yard. Apparently this was only the second time this has happened and he was simply delighted.

Moral of this story? Lime in Alice Yard guys, you never know what will come of it, but it will be excellent.

Haben: Changes

2009-04-27T21:35:00.000-04:00

As you can see there have not been updated photos placed on my flickr. My focus for this project has shifted to the major performance piece. Soon I will be able to post images of my performance costume and its movement(i.e. in rehearsal). My original plan to paint a canvas series has changed due to my Trinidad experience. I have met several artists that have shown me the strength of live performance. Visual arts have always been a part of my life but only recently have I truly paid attention to my growth as a singer. I want to share this with the Alice Yard community.

Part of my motivation is the youth. I want Alice Yard to become a space for young people as well. My generational lyrics, as well as Mother Mas are meant to be heard by all, not only the artistically inclined folk. Hopefully we can incorporate young people on performance night. Keep posted for pictures.

Haben: Updated Lyrics (in Progress)

2009-04-27T18:20:00.000-04:00

This is playing off of the call and response style. I dreamt this in my sleep.
And I actually imagined a Mother Mas, mimicking Ma Rainey in stature, singing in a blues voice:

(Begin with a portion of Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Chile)

Sometimes I feel like a Motherless Chile
Sometimes I feel like a motherless Chile
Sometimes I feel like a Motherless Chile
A long, long way from home
Sometimes I feel like Im almost gone
Sometimes I feel like Im almost gone
Sometimes I feel like Im all alone
All Aloneeee

How could you leave me?
Im Mother Mas
How could you hide from me?
Im your protection
How could you run from me?
Im your education

How could you forget me?
Im your memory of what was and what can be

Slavery has had its turn on me
Its torn me down and broken me apart
But Im giving you the key to suceed my child
You are stronger than the whip and the struggle
Meet tomorrow with open arms and heads lifted
Live to make your ancestors smile
Reject denial
Live to make your ancestors smile(2x)

Haben: Visit to Chaguanas Primary School with Rape Crisis Center

2009-04-27T17:15:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday I attended and volunteered to teach a "What a Girl Wants" symposium at Chaguanas Primary School with Amanda Persad, a fellow Trinity College student. The event was funded by the Rape Crisis Center of Trinidad where Amanda is an intern. The program was designed for teen boys between the ages of fifteen and seventeen years old. The program lessons entailed advice and instructions about safe sex, teen pregnancy, STDs, dating and healthy relationships.

Amanda and I set up short skits for the young men to act. The vibrancy and energy of the room was amazing and they received the performances well. As desired, a cross dialogue took place and notions of patriarchy, peer pressure and masculinity were made evident through their questions and frustrations. I observed how the 'popular' notions of sexuality, masculinity and relationships had taken affect on the young people. Programs such as these are needed across the country, ideally on a global scale as well. Notions of patriarchy, violence and abuse can be linked to the way our children are raised, what they are mentally fed on a day to day basis, the lack of needed support to override these notions.

Teh Rape Crisis Center work brought an inspiration to my writing. As a conscious performer I wanted to become well acquainted with some social issues facing Trinidad. In combination with Kywnn Johnson's exhibition, meeting other artists, readings by Walcott, Walker and Paul alike, as well as my volunteering at Chaguanas I am finding more material to incorporate into my song/spoken word piece as part of the final performance. Im taking Chris Cozier's advice of doing more 'showing' and less 'telling' in terms of my purpose or my message for the song.

Haben: My Responses to Red, appropiated (Art Exhibition) by Kwynn Johnson

2009-04-24T15:45:00.000-04:00

Kywnn Johnson's art exhibition was an "investigation of red in art, literature and advertising as it intersects notions of ethnicity,[economics] identity, gender, and violence in Trinidad." The overwhelming use of redness is a symbol of bloodshed in Trinidad as well. (This concept relates to my social piece, involving what the members of this community witness through news and everyday life).

1) Embroidered Images
My favorite embroidered image is the lips.
The use of reflection and lighting is amazing really bringing the piece to life.
I only suggested that Johnson try to expand that use of light in several other pieces; specifically the animated cartoon-like images.

2) Embroidered Texts
Through all means and red depictions you connect politics of race, nation- economics- the body-violence within the embroidered texts and images. This is the work of conscious artists, the embroidered texts you have made ARE your own, fully embodying your consciousness and style. It is clear that embroidery is a major part of your art experience as well as a reflection of how you see the world.

3) Watercolours
The watercolours, accompanied by the fish wire presented a different tone and aspect to the RED series. The implications of physical injuries and their healing processes is what I was intrigued by the most, especially the implications of hybridity/contradictory tendencies.

4) Digital Screen Prints
The screen prints, in my opinion, were not the strongest part of the series, however it does contribute to the strategic process of the exhibition. However I did enjoy the many uses of the word 'red' which undoubtedly is a part of everyday speech and ultimately symbolizes human connect and disconnect.

5) 3 Newspaper Collages
I enjoy the found art aspect of the newspaper clippings. The concept of 'RED' power was heightened through the clippings. The collages and essentially the entire series captured **Johnson's statement: "Bloodshed is everywhere in Trinidad...even blood money, blood diamonds...mixed blood and blood relatives".

6) Rose Installation
The dried rose installation was the first display that caught my eye upon entering the Soft box gallery. Initially the installation fits with the Red theme but it was not until I made my way around the exhibition, going into both rooms, until I understood its exact purpose and dynamic.
7) Short Film: 'At a theatre near you'
I found the graphic film to be an interesting component though I agree it would have a made a stronger piece had the split screen dynamic been implemented to show both the artist and doctor at work. The focus on the hands could have been more evident. There is fluidity nonetheless that convey the message of ‘stitching’ oneself, identity and so forth.

COMMENT FROM THE ARTIST:

Hi Haben,
Many thanks for your response to my work, as your time taken to do this is much appreciated.
It continues to be truly surprising with each viewer's comment, when I read/hear which of the works engaged the viewer the most.
And to think I almost left out the lips!
Yes the screen prints contrast a lot with the rest of the show, basically because it is handmade vs machine made.
But these text-sayings was one of the platforms that spearheaded this body of work. The collages, yes, can fall into the catagory of found objects, but it is also how history is written. But some viewers felt it was too 'unfinished'.
I looked at it as grounding the rest of the show, in that it presented lived experiences of the audience/landscape that I was presenting in red. Thanks you for stating the obvious yet that which is over looked, that this is my experience and my lens. Moreover, I continue to be pleased that I was able to communicate my ideas; in that your comments show that you and many others 'got it', via my visual language.Feel free to pop in the gallery this week again so we can meet, if not, I wish you every success with your work/research here. Kwynn Johnson

thea: red

2009-04-23T16:45:00.000-04:00

Last tuesday, Haben, Chris and I went to visit Kwynn's Red Project at the Soft Box Gallery. There was a comment form that detailed each aspect of the project and below are my responses. If you intend to see the show, I suggest you do so before reading this. Consider this the gallery show version of a spoiler alert.

My Responses:

-------------------------------
Embroidered Images:
I am absolutely in awe of the immense amount of skill it took to "draw" with thread, especially in the case of the lips, the wine, and the Red Stripe Lager. I could not help but look at them over and over to check that I was seeing right and that they had really been done with thread.

Embroidered Texts:
Gets the true point about race across that could not have been conveyed otherwise. Provides a nice balance to the images and the array and choice of authors is fascinating.

Watercolours:
I am not sure I completely understood all of the watercolors but I particularly enjoyed the POrt-of-Spain series as it's reference to violence was clear and the content (sort of) prepared me for the video.

Digital Screen Prints:
Initially underwhelming especialy when contrasted w/ the rest of the show, but once I got past that I actually enjoyed the calming visual repetition and the driving home of the "red" phrases. I would have preferred to see these stiched as well if only to provide continuity or perhaps displaying them in a non-wall context in order to fully shift away from the embroidery display.

3 Newspaper Collages
I get the point but they were simply not as visually stimulating as the rest of the show [perhaps if the actual newspaper clippings had been used it would have been more powerful]

Rose Installation:
This part of the show intrigues me. I am not sure what the intention here was but to me, dried roes imply accomplishments that have passed. A rose recieved upon graduation or the opening night of a play is one that is dried and kept, not for itself but for what it represents. Also, the roses bring the show into reality, without them, everything seems very sterile. Wait, just found the "get well soon" card. Hospital reference, ah.

Short Film: 'At a theater near you':
Graphic, gets the point across, STOMACH WRENCHING

The choice of red pen responses also shows the comprehensiveness of the red theme.

-------------------------------------

Needless to say, this was a really phenomenal, well executed, awesomely thought out show. I was glad that the concept of red was not extended to communism except for one small hammer and sickle image. It was sort of refreshing for the metaphor of "red" to be distanced from that cliche.

COMMENT FROM THE ARTIST:
Maybe art students should do art critiques in T'dad's n/papers!
Instead of "I fine" and "I feel" . Nah, its part of our landscape, for now.

Hi Thea, many thanks to you also for taking time out to critique this work.
Indeed, it has been a way to present drawings via thread.
Moreover, to present mataphors of red with blood; blood-lines and blood shed.
The stitchery actually takes the same amount of time as do the watercolours.
The collages: I collected press clippings which I scanned and imported in an Ai file. This was done for conservation purposes, in that the spray I have to remove acid from paper is not as good as I thought, and I hope for this work to last a number of years, and too that I priced them. Not too sure if this is a good thing,
but these clippings from our newspapers are compiled in my journal, to which I will submit with my portfolio and thesis.
Someone also found the clippings were too neat as well. Also too, you did get it, yes the idea of flowers sent to a patient saying 'get well soon', also how it contrasts with the association of red roses and love.
However, the installation begun with fresh roses, to which I have seen them dry, which is what you saw.
So beautiful fresh red roses hanging upside down presented a different imagery to viewers in the opening week.
So I am happy to have been able to present two types of installations.
The film is a technical failure, I know, when I was about to render the transitional effects were not exporting etc, it is still the same. But it was a hell of an experience filiming in our A& E. Surgial suturing is so interesting, in terms of the causes, the stitchery, and the scar / marks left. Also too how contrasting it is for a male Doctor stitghing versus a female embroidering. But as you saw it was an attempt to tie the works together.
However, the singers in the film Dr Chevannes was part of a Socialist movement in the 70's in Jamaica.
So I actually did touch on communism, in that I asked him what he thought of when someone raises a red flag, and immediately he sung "Le internationale", the classic 19th cent socialist song.
But this was only obvious to Jamaican viewers and those familiar with that song. That's why I chose that music for the film. However in Trinidad a red flag is emblematic of nationalism, public protests, Soca Warriors (Nat football team), and also says 'danger on the beach'. yet another way Red is appropriated :-) Enjoy your stay here, maybe you can pop up to Maracas Bay and see all the red flags, try our Red mango preserves at the Maracas bay Lookout, and sip a Red-Rum and Coconut water. Hope all goes well with your research here, and thanks again. I will include your comments at as appendix to my writings as well. Kwynn Johnson

Stations....

2009-04-21T09:52:00.000-04:00

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE FLICKR PORTFOLIO
".......It's complicated because so much of the culture, in my limited perception, appears to be mas or performance in itself. The culture is a performance. How does photography, capturing this performance-in-action, play into this? What's behind it all? I don't believe I've accomplished this investigative approach yet, but I would like to."

thea: where there's a will there's a way

2009-04-20T01:09:00.000-04:00

We have determined that our performance will be on the 8th of may. Today is the 19th of April. I'm not brilliant at math but that gives us about 19 days to finish the script, prep Alice Yard (including some table painting and decoupaging) and rehearse, not to mention finish the mas that i have begun and collected most of the materials for but not yet finished building. And this is in addition to 4 other classes that I am currently finishing up as well.
I know it will get done, it is simply a matter of when. It was my intention to spend the better part of this weekend in Alice Yard, working. However I failed to remember that Alice Yard has the misfortune to be located in Port of Spain, a part of the country that has been all but shut down since Thursday. I was informed that it would be silly to even try to get near Aripita. So I lost this weekend. I will attempt to make that up during the week, spending evenings after class there if possible so come by and look for me if you want to see me working frantically to pin plastic bottle labels together (that's all I'll say, I wouldn't want to give away too much).
Speaking of which, you may have noticed that I have stopped posting pictures to Flickr. This is because I am no longer concerned with the actual objects but more so with what I can make them do. This change has two roots: 1) Haben has to actually wear the result which was not originally part of the plan. To that end, the "sculpture" must be practical, light, and fulfill certain physical requirements. 2) after the cleaning lady threw out all my original stuff and my plan changed, I was inspired to treat the objects less as individual bits and more as part of a whole. It is now less about the scavenging and more about the artistic result. Will that work? I don't know. Come be the judge in 19 days.

Haben: Meeting with Sean Leonard and Generating New Ideas!

2009-04-18T15:55:00.000-04:00

As I predicted, meeting with Sean Leonard from Alice Yard to discuss logistics and lighting for the performance became a mix of explosive ideas and energies. As we approach the finalizations of the project we are experimenting with ways to incorporate guest attendees within the performance. The cocktail party, decorated with a few table treats and invitations into the performance are great ideas. Meaning from the first mingling moment that takes place our audience becomes actors. As the audience members find their place in the yard, whether it is a corner, a table, a room - that space will become a part of the live stage where portions of our blogs reflecting our project process will be read aloud by the audience members. Providing another insight into the creative process and production that most audience members never understand unless a question and answer session is provided.

New ideas as to how we will provide the reading at each table were presented as well. We have decided pasting these blog portions at tables create art pieces outside of the Mother Mas performance and costume. Thus enveloping the audience in the art, where they are constantly surrounded my the message we want to convey through our blogs and the creation of the Mother Mas character. I will draw up a sketch of the layout ( in terms of placement for the blogs etc) after I collaborate with Thea for clear logistics and materials. This will be added to my flickr.

NICE POST ERIN! Im happy you have joined us!

Photo intro

2009-04-15T01:37:00.000-04:00

Hi, I'm new to posting but it looks like I'll be joining in some of your discussion as we start wrapping up the final projects. As you all know I've been photographing various events in Trinidad this semester, trying to finalize a final concept for a presentation. You can view my photos so far through this link.

Something I've been contending with, and that I discussed with Chris, is the problem of how I approach certain events: what am I trying to accomplish, what am I trying to say, and how can the photographs be read? During my internship, I've been trying to focus on portraying events in a photojournalist/documentary way: setting up the event, allowing the event to control the camera. But underneath this runs the problem of process, or how I engage with the subject(s) and perceive them, and how the photographs reflect this negotiation of comfort level, understanding, and control. I know that I've been struggling with finding the right form of composition in an unfamiliar environment. I don't really know or understand what I'm looking at, being from a different culture, and I want to resist relying on tired stock imaging of that the Caribbean should look like, or a sort of 'orientalism' of Trinidad carnival, as an American outsider. It's complicated because so much of the culture, in my limited perception, appears to be mas or performance in itself. The culture is a performance. How does photography, capturing this performance-in-action, play into this? What's behind it all? I don't believe I've accomplished this investigative approach yet, but I would like to.

Perhaps one of my favorite moments while photographing here was when I attended a Catholic funeral in Santa Cruz. I was completely caught off guarded, in a state of culture shock, having never before attended a funeral that pulsed with so much energy and diverse interaction. I got caught up in an adrenaline rush and I felt immersed in the space. That sort of feeling of transcendence is what I want to translate into images. I'm attempting to compile a series of final photographs, one about pan and steelband players, and the other about religious rituals of death and dying. But as Chris pointed out, there is more than just what the photographs objectively represent, there is always a narrative and a discourse underpinning the photos, in my case, it might be about the process of reconciling culture and control of the camera, and rendering images in terms of color, shape and form.

Haben: Start of Vocals

2009-04-09T10:08:00.000-04:00

This has a blues feel to it- using plenty rifts and shifts for emotional purposes

Ive been strugglin' real hard
Tryna make ends meet
Ive been strugglin' real hard
Tryna feed my seed
But whose gonna feed me?

You dont know- you dont know
my story
You dont know- you dont know - my glory

Rifts-----

(song portion melody)

"government hands no where to be found
Unless your name is Obama- then theyll come around"

Haben: Reclaim It!

2009-04-08T22:57:00.000-04:00

Greta Mendez performance is phenomenal- from political commentary to MAYBELLINE- she covers various themes all devoted to the incorporation of the body (her canvas) and globalization. Through this work Mendez reclaims her body from the tyranny of commercialization(despite its aging, its changes and flaws), she uses it fiercely and simultaneously forces her audience to embrace and celebrate her body with her.

Performance artist Greta Mendez
In connection with our own creation Thea and I were both captured by Mendez's use of space in which "taking up space" has been a constant theme throughout our own piece. We exercise this theme of space through our own collection of materials and building of the costume by linking its pieces to the Triniland as well as brainstorming the many ways in which we can take up space at Alice Yard through performance- the many positions we can incorporate both on and off stage like Mendez.
We were inspired to blur the performer versus audience ideal a bit more as well because Mendez's performance was beyond interactive. Interestingly Mendez stated that when she is seen in public/offstage she is in hiding and while peforming I saw an entirely different spirit emerge through her Madame Glo character. Also Mendez shared with us the way in which her character was created( by the tale of Madame D'glou and its link to Trinidadian folklore). Madame Glo was a sight to see indeed. Her costume as well is made of recycled and found art like my Mother Mas character. Both characters providing a sense of transformation and reclamation through movement and vocals. There are several commonalities between our pieces which allowed inspiration to come as strongly as it did.

thea: Greta's impact

2009-04-08T21:01:00.000-04:00

Greta is an amazing performer and talking to her and watching her work sent Hab and I into an inspiration frenzy. get ready for a cocktail party at which strange things occur. get ready to blur the line between audience and performer, you are not off the hook. Greta's use of the WHOLE space had me literally climbing the walls to see what our limits were. Her use of character got me thinking about the characters we will play, and her 100% free and recycled costume reminded me of the environmental implications of playing a found art mas. She is political but not preachy, funny without being laughable, intimidating without being scary and she is absolutely brilliant. even as she sketched in her character during the rehersal we could see so much as though an entirely different person was coming through her skin. she has such control of her body, her stance, her presence. Hab and I were simply in awe and so dissapointed that we won't see her final performance. if you have the opportunity, go and see her tomorrow night, it will be worth it.

Conversation with Greta Mendez

2009-04-08T18:58:00.001-04:00

This evenings rehearsal delayed by rain. Greta shares her thoughts.

Multi-media performance artist, Greta Mendez based in London, takes time off from rehearsals for her work Ndulgence ( to be produced in collaboration with Robert Young of the the Cloth and Paul Kain ) with Haben & Thea at Alice Yard.

Label collecting for performance skirt in progress while listening to Greta in the Yard.

Haben: Vocals and Ideas

2009-04-06T23:37:00.000-04:00

In terms of vocals---

I have been experimenting with sounds and tones that Ive never tried before.
Ive contacted a friend of mine that studies vocals and is also a spoken word artist in hopes to shape this vocal portion a bit more.

Soon I will be able to post lyrics up so that you can have a sense of the its direction- I was considering singing a portion of a Motherless Child as part of the introduction but I might also rewrite an older verse Ive kept.

The Mother Mas charater should be viewed as this culture savior- whose vocals are to be felt The topic is consciousness- allowing room for debate and discussion but most importantly influence and truth.

Vocals outlining social woes and conflicts is at the heart of it all.

Haben: AlterNATIVE and Space

2009-04-06T21:54:00.000-04:00

Meeting with Annie Paul(The Repeating ALTERNATIVE) and student Alicia Milne was an interesting time- especially given our recent readings on Jocelyn Gardner's pieces on the duality concept of colonizing persons and post-colonial feminist (White-Caribbean) identities taking up the island space.

This movement of artists and Caribbean natives returning home to work are met with opposition- an aspect of the art world I would not have covered had I not read Annie Paul’s work. In a sense these alterNATIVE artists fit into this duality concept Gardner expresses.

Interestingly the internal refugee concept is very much alive in the artworld. An even greater obstacle is the concept of race within the artworld. For instance still “race is and remains a thorny issue in Caribbean artworlds” which is a concept Id like to pay better attention to in terms of our own work and this truth of the Caribbean Id like to incorporate whether in speech or the costume make up itself. Our meeting allowed more self reflection as to why Ive embarked on this project to begin with or why I feel the need to make changes and additions depending on the people I meet throughout the process. Really allowing influences to do their part, educate myself on the Caribbean and how I can take up my own space here.

Not only incorporating what Ive heard and experienced but using this project as a stepping stone towards awareness and further reflection is final.

Annie Paul visits from Kingston

2009-04-05T16:19:00.000-04:00

L-R: Alicia Milne, Thea Button, Haben Abraham & Annie Paul
Alicia Milne, artist and student at UWI, stops in to join and lead the conversation about Annie Paul's idea of the "alterNatives." Artists who find themselves on the outside of nationalist narratives about visual art and about the idea of being "mythless and storyless." ( see: The Enigma of Survival’: Travelling Beyond the Expat Gaze”, Art Journal, Volume 62, Number 1, Spring 2003)
Annie Paul is also an editor of Small Axe, a Caribbean Journal of Criticism.

Haben: To reveal a reality not lived by the masses

2009-03-30T19:39:00.000-04:00

Interestingly in our last session we met a variety of personalities and art styles from several different acquaintances that came to visit Chris Cozier's studio. It was the perfect mix across geography-talents-ethnicities and works. It showed me the Caribbean interconnectedness that exists among the artworld. This symbolizes the power in relationships whether among artists-activists or what have you.

How can I relate this and several of my experiences to our final presentation? Well for starters my incorporation of social activism and interpersonal relationships within this presentation- via my vocal performance/small painting as as part of the cultural headdress for Mother Mas.(Thus depicting a scenario or conflict I wish to address through community art)

Furthermore I spoke about my concerns for the Trinidadian youth to Sean Leonard- in terms of incorporating them into the use of Alice Yard and somehow extending an invitation to them. Allowing not only the 'elite' to take part in what Alice Yard has to offer but sharing that with the community at large despite generational differences. My piece celebrates activism through a call for social responsibility that every individual must uphold.

To reveal a reality not lived by the masses.