The culture of cultural development: A look at TT (part 3)

SONJA DUMAS

Part III

ON THE other side of the problematic coin is my community – the artists. Permit me to revisit the same fear that caused me to shy away from the offer of being a dance critic for a major local newspaper. It’s the fear that in this small society, the daggers which were already coming at my back in the artistic community (nearly all artists have them) would now assail me from the front, and in local parlance, I would “jus’ dead.”

Many want to create art, but few want critical feedback. This has its implications for consumers also. I remember a friend of mine, who had done very well financially, showing me his extensive collection of local paintings. It was some of the weakest work I’ve ever seen, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that since he was so proud of it. He believed that not only did it enhance his walls – it would also appreciate in value. Because, after all, isn’t that what all expensive art does?

Actually, no. One relatively recent and pleasant exception to this is the purchase of the Cazabon collection by the current Government. Michel Jean Cazabon (an ancestor of the famous musician Andre Tanker) was likely our first important visual artist; he created exceptional art with his signature style (influenced by the European painters of his day) but also gave us pictorial and historical insight into Trinidad of the 19th century. On all levels – artistic, historic and national – that is priceless. We just need to understand the importance of our contemporary art also, and how to tell the sheep from the goats.

But I digress. I said that my main things are dance and film. I try my best to be a consistent dance practitioner in this space, although I feel far more appreciated when I leave it and meet regional or international colleagues to whom I don’t have to prove myself over and over again.

I’m also grateful for the tiny, local circle of people whom I trust to tell me if my work is strong, how to strengthen it, or if I need to just flush it down the proverbial toilet and start over, since I know that they tell me this with love and not with a hidden agenda.

I try to learn from artists/artistes/people who create so that I can be a better artist – I don’t care if they’re 19 or 90. I’m arrogant, impatient, hopeful and racked with insecurity all at the same time (some would say, “normal artist ting”).

But I continue to make work and I try to make things happen. I try to give people honest feedback if they ask for it, and hope that after they finish fuming about “how Sonja could tell dem dat” about their work, they actually contemplate the comments – whether they agree or not. It’s called maturity.

That is not to say that if we had more mature exchanges that it would eliminate dog or cat fights in the artistic world. Haters gonna hate, even in – perhaps especially in – the world of the arts. And we artists birth “babies” which we defend with our lives and our venom.

And of course the culture vultures, like the reliable corbeaux after which they’re named, are always going to be on the lookout for an opportunity to pounce on how important our culture is or how “de Government not supporting de culture,” while filling their pockets with the money that should go towards the very culture on whose behalf they’re advocating.

Part IV tomorrow

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Sonja Dumas