US museum shows Wendy Nanan art on social media

Social media is the platform for an exhibition of Trinidadian artist Wendy Nanan's works by the OAS Art Museum of the Americas in the US.

Art lovers were invited to log on from May 28 to WENDY NANAN, an #AMAatHome #AMAenCasa on the museum's four social media walls: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for the exhibition which runs for seven days.

On June 4, there will be special live Zoom performances by poets Andre Bagoo, Des Seebaran and Shivanee Ramlochan, and commentary by curator Andil Gosine.

The exhibition is part of the Washington-based museum's new initiative to curate artworks for its social media platforms arising out of the global impact of covid19.

"The pandemic has drawn to light the importance of art and culture in our lives. We reorient our museum to benefit the public that may not have physical access to our historic collection and new exhibitions," the museum said in its release on the Nanan exhibition.

The art and sculpture of Nanan were to be showcased for three months from March 19 until June 14, however the pandemic curtailed this plan, with the museum moving the exhibition online. The new format will still cover Nanan's creations over the last four decades, including her depictions of cricket at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, when she went there for matches with her parents.

"These drawings are remarkable for their intense observation and quick calligraphic rendering in the Japanese zenga manner, of cricket in play at the Queen’s Park Oval. Occupying the AMA’s largest gallery, this exhibition marks the first time that so many of the works are seen together," according to a statement from the AMA, which Newsday published in early March

Among the works is a new series of eight new pod-like sculptures for the exhibition. "Constructed from papier-mache and sea shells that the artist has collected over regular trips to Manzanilla beach along Trinidad’s Atlantic coast, and sculpted in the form of a vulva, the series is centrally concerned with the anxieties about women’s bodies and sexualities."

The museum notes the recurring theme of cultural changes in the Americas.

"The Bounce from her oversized book series continues the artist’s exploration of shared struggles and spiritualities across the Americas. In this work, lyrics from the epic Billie Holiday song are the background text to the bounce between the Hindu god Ganesh and The Lion of The Twelve Tribes. It references the “bounce” shared between Barack and Michelle Obama on election night, a time when universal forces colluded to say we have finally overcome.

Additionally, four brightly-coloured papier-mache sculptures complete the show: Idyllic Marriage – depicts a marriage between the Hindu god Vishnu and the Catholic Madonna in a space that is part-temple, part-church. "Nanan thrusts into an interrogation of the necessary discomfort of mixing in the Americas, slyly observant of both the productive rewards and violence of hybridity. The piece simultaneously invites critique and reflection about male-female relationships and the historical institutionalised marginalisation of women," the museum states.

Also, a new Baby Krishna from her series that reimagines the Hindu deity Krishna, will also debut.