Second part of Crop Over Exhibition starts today

The second series of the three-part Against All Odds Central Bank Crop Over 2022 Visual Arts Exhibition, will start today at the Queen’s Park Gallery.

Following the first series, Questions of Freedom, which ended last week, the second series #FutureFRWD will begin today and run until Wednesday August 3.

The #FutureFRWD Exhibit which can be viewed at its opening night event tomorrow, is intended to encapsulate elements of youth through means of digital, interactive and new media. The night will feature performances and activities like live painting, projection art and a ‘sip & paint’ session.

For this exhibit, young artists both in age and experience were encouraged to express themselves and their identity relative to their connection to ‘nu media’.

Through 2D, 3D, photography and ‘nu media’ artwork, this showcase seeks to ask its participating artists and viewers a series of questions, like “Are all empowered with the capacity to develop their natural gifts and talents?”; “Are we free to express ourselves?”.

The Central Bank Crop Over 2022 Visual Arts Exhibition was inspired by a recognition of the resilience of Barbadian people which was displayed through the paintings, prints and other workmanship of local artists.

As a complete body of work, Against All Odds was conceptualised to highlight how Barbadian strength of character has been fashioned by hardship and adversity, past and present.

The themes addressed in the exhibition include plantation slavery, economic disenfranchisement and global factors like threats of war and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NCF Cultural Officer for Visual Arts, Rodney Ifill, served as the producer of the Crop Over Visual Arts Exhibition, assisted by guest curator Oneka Small.

After quoting major “acts of emancipation”, from the abolition of slavery to Barbados’ transition to a Republic, it is fitting that the first instalment of the exhibition sought to answer the titular Questions of Freedom.

Falling at the beginning of the Season of Emancipation, that exhibition ran from Wednesday, May 25th until Wednesday, July 6th.

The final instalment of the exhibition called Our Land will be available for viewing from Wednesday, August 10 to Wednesday, August 31. Artists were asked to create pieces that would interrogate how the Barbadian landscape is perceived and measured beyond its aesthetic value, focusing on the manipulation of natural resources and their utilitarian importance.

There are a total of 27 artists featured across the three segments of the exhibition, carefully selected from more than 33 entries.

Some of the artists include the prominent Ras Akyem Ramsay who was a recipient of the 2012 Caribbean Luminary of the Arts Award, the 2010 Lifetime Achievements Award in The Visual Arts and more.

Amidst the more senior artists, however, the works of many emerging artists are also featured including Jamila Greaves, Sian Pampellonne, Akilah Watts and Shane Eastmond.

As guest curator, one of Small’s suggestions was to interview artists and have the information collected used to create artist profiles to be featured in a digital catalogue.

Samples of artwork which constitute one to two pieces per artist will be included in the catalogues, as seen in the first catalogue for “Questions of Freedom”.

This will be in an effort to capture what Rodney Ifill describes as the artists’ oeuvre; the progression and trajectory of their bodies of work. (PR)