Cox calls for more platforms to showcase creative talent

Barbados needs to create more opportunities for its artists and filmmakers to showcase their work rather than forcing creatives to look overseas for an audience, says secondary school art teacher and filmmaker George Cox.

Cox made the call at an art show at Inspirational Fine Arts Gallery, located upstairs Sugar Cane Mall, Roebuck Street, where he reflected on the need for the arts to have a more consistent presence in Barbadian life beyond events such as exhibitions and competitions.

George Cox looking at paintings (Photo credit: Lauryn Escamilla / Barbados TODAY)

He said: “Without the ability to display your work, it’s a problem and you need to display it to an audience. You need to display it to the people who are around you.”

The experienced art teacher, who has more than 30 years of experience in education and has also worked in engineering and film, pointed to his daughter’s career as an example of what can happen when young creatives pursue opportunities outside Barbados.

Art teacher George Cox (Photo credit: Lauryn Escamilla / Barbados TODAY)

He explained that his daughter, who studied film, now works for a company that does work for Disney and is involved in filmmaking.

“She knows what she wants. She has an amazing vision in terms of what it is that she wants and she directs you. She’s an amazing storyteller,” he said.

But Cox believes Barbados has the talent to develop its own creative industries if greater emphasis were placed on providing platforms for local work.

He noted that while there are Barbadians producing films about their own experiences, many of those productions do not receive the exposure needed to reach wider audiences.

“We have film people out there, and they have to find a way to get themselves to express themselves out there, but there’s no platform where people get to see themselves,” he said.

Cox questioned whether these productions are being given enough opportunities through television, particularly via the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

“We have a lot of films about Barbadians. But how many times have you seen it on CBC? Never.”

He described Barbadian film as an “untapped area”, arguing that there are technicians capable of supporting productions but that we need to encourage more people to create stories and provide them with places to showcase those stories.

“We don’t get a lot of people creating film, creating story, and they don’t get to show themselves,” Cox said.

For him, criticism of creative work should not be viewed solely as something negative, because exposure gives artists an opportunity to develop.

“Even the worst opinions, or criticisms, is something, you know. It’s not negative,” he said.

Cox pointed to Trinidad and Jamaica as examples of Caribbean countries where creative work is more visible, while also highlighting work being done by an artist and former student in St Vincent.

“He’s doing a lot of work in St Vincent. So he’s getting to display stuff. He’s getting to explore what other artists are doing there.”

He also praised the decision by artist Sherridean Carmichael to operate the Inspirational Fine Arts Gallery at Sugar Cane Mall, saying the unusual setting was itself an artistic decision.

“Even this amazing art show. This could have been part of a documentary of some kind because this is an amazing lady and the very fact she’s found her little space where the gallery is the corridor, very creative.”

He believes the gallery and the work displayed there could form the basis of a wider story about Barbadian artists and their creative journeys.

“This is a whole story all by itself,” he said.

Cox added that the growth of the Internet provides another avenue for creatives, but traditional media also has a role to play in telling Barbadian stories.

“The Internet is wide and vast. Television is ours right here. It’s one of our platforms that is right here,” he said.

He suggested that greater attention to Barbadian storytelling could also help media organisations connect more closely with Barbadian audiences.

“I think more people would watch the CBC if there was more about them, you know, more storytelling about them,” Cox said.
(LE)