Exhibition showcases strides by women towards equality

By Shamar Blunt 

The latest exhibition at the Queen’s Park Gallery has been inspired by the selfless contributions women have made to modern society.

Entitled A Seat at The Table, the display has been hosted by the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) in recognition of International Women’s Day.

Curator of the exhibit, Oneka Small, told Barbados TODAY that 22 local artists were invited to display their works in this year’s showcase, which seeks to discuss the level of gender equality currently on the island and around the world.

“The idea behind the show was to invite artists, both male and female, to discuss issues around access. The theme for International Women’s Day this year is DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality, so how do we get to the table? How does it become more of a level playing field, as more of our ideas are accepted in what we do,” she questioned.

Small stressed that the pieces each supported the position that women have come a long way in their journey towards equal opportunities within the workspace and their communities, even though challenges remain. 

“We’ve come a long way. There were women before within our generation who were not allowed to work once they were married, or they were not allowed to have degrees – they would go university, but they were not actually granted a degree – and if you came out of university without a degree and you got married, it meant then that you were not even allowed to work.

“So we wanted artists to look at those issues, but we also wanted the women artists to speak about how their lives are impacted. Who they are, what they do, what their challenges have been on their path to success, and what they do to overcome those challenges.”

shamarblunt@barbadostoday.bb