SYMPHONY OF STORMS.
AN INTRODUCTION.
symphony of storms takes shape as a window to the enshadowed history of Jamaica, or rather XaYmaca - in reference to the original Taíno name meaning ‘land of wood and water’.
The work Seeks to INTERROGATE THE PERSONA OF THE CARIBBEAN by illuminating the islands’ chaotic history. The Jamaican national motto today is 'Out of Many, One people', an acknowledgement of its multicultural roots and ethos. The project became an attempt to visualise some of the invisible players that have orchestrated global Jamaican identity over time. Those beyond the frame of popular history who overcame mayhem and suppression by learning to conduct storms into symphonies.
the artwork IMAGINES ASPECTS OF CONCEALED CARRIBEAN HISTORY through the elemental lenses of ‘fire, wood and water’. in ‘fire’ SCENES OF CATASTROPHE allude to historic episodes such as the 1831 BAPTIST WAR from the perspective of the oppressed - enslaved people Setting alight slave ships and plantations in a new design for autonomy. influential to the work also are Figures such as Queen Nanny and Samuel Sharpe of the ‘maroons’; the maroons were free men, women and children of the mountains whose stout refusal to provide the British empire with free African labor was the lightning that struck life into the abolition movement THAT would end the transatlantic slave trade. in their resistance they created free communities and forms of eXpression, CREATING A LEGACY OF EQUALITY AND non-violent communication today. considering ‘water’, Calmer scenes pay respect to the submerged human DNA on the ocean floor, bones and barnacles are metamorphosed into revived spirits, affirming that nothing is truly lost, only changed. in the ‘wood’ sILK COTTON TREEs AND Rainforest thickets reflect the Jamaican natural landscape and mystique, caught in the paradox of shadow and light.
THE RESIDENCY.
The royal drawing school Hanover residency in Jamaica enabled work in a environment abundant in natural beauty, biodiversity and light. In opportunities to explore i was inspired by organic structures, silhouettes and old relics that spoke to Jamaica's enshadowed colonial history. Particularly, a water wheel, used to irrigate former plantation lands; this massive metal gear in the midst of lush forest became in my artwork a symbol for the wheel of time in cosmology. Building a narrative around the observed landscapes I was able to respond to the environment and find direction for a series of work that would become symphony of storms.
location: hanover parish, northwestern jamaica.
PHOTOGRAPHY.
paintings and drawings IN RESIDENCE.
THE EXHIBITION.
VIDEOS BY JONNY GUARDIANI.
THE SOUNDSCAPE.
THE ExHIBITION FEATURED AN AUDIO INTERPRETATION OF SYMPHONY OF STORMS ARTWORK.
SYMPHONY OF STORMS - soundscape 001 - by FESTUS WILLIAMS.
THE ARTWORK.
THE RESEARCH.
SIGNIFICANT READING:
THE ATMOSPHERE: A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION, BOOK BY PAUL. PALMER.
The Book of Night Women, Novel by Marlon James.
GUNS, GERMS AND STEEL, BOOK BY JARED DIAMOND.
NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS, Book by Frederick Douglass.
select parts of the holy bible for the use of the negro slaves in the british west-india islands, PRINTED BY LAW AND GILBERT.
The Slave Ship: A Human History, Book by Marcus Rediker.
WATER: A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION, BOOK BY JOHN FINNEY