Tattoo artist Gesiye Souza-Okpofabri is reframing Picton's history

Local artist Gesiye “Gesiye” Souza-Okpofabri will help to reshape historical narrative, particularly that of Sir Thomas Picton.

How is she going to do that? By tattooing.

Gesiye is one of two artists commissioned by Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales and its community partner the Sub Sahara Advisory Panel (SSAP) to reframe the legacy of Lieut-Gen Sir Thomas Picton (1758-1815).

Amgueddfa Cymru –National Museum Wales, formerly known as the National Museums and Galleries of Wales, is a Welsh government-sponsored body made up of seven museums.

A press release said, “The museum hopes that the new commissions will amplify the voices of those originally neglected in the telling of Picton’s story, or those whose lives are most affected by its legacy today.”

Gesiye and group Laku Neg were the artists chosen. Laku Neg is represented by four members of Trinidadian heritage who live and work in the UK, the release said.

The release added that the proposed artworks by Gesiye and Laku Neg “will explore narratives of ancestry, healing, transformation and empowerment, and will challenge the colonial narratives that have traditionally been told in National Museum Cardiff’s galleries by centring black consciousness, experiences, and voices.”

The soon-to-be 29-year-old multidisciplinary artist has been tattooing for the past four years and works in a wide range of media including photography, sculpture, music and dance.

The Maracas/St Joseph resident wants to open up a conversation about Picton’s legacy and –apart from tattooing’s physical transformative power – she believes it is also a great conversation-starter.

African traditions

In a phone interview, she said, “Apart from the visible, physical transformation...I think even just the experience of taking ownership of your body and...saying this is how I want to mark my body and be seen and be known.

“Regardless of what other people may think of it – I know I live in a society where some people might not think it is okay, but saying, ‘I am taking this agency upon my body because it is mine and I can do that.'

“I think that is something really powerful and I have always enjoyed that aspect of tattooing and being tattooed.”

For her, the world is at a point where people are taking agency over their own bodies and transforming themselves literally and visually.

Tattooing and body modification are indigenous to many people across the world and many Africans who came across with these traditions had been forced to abandon them, she said.

Over her years in tattooing, she has built up a good clientele, a good support system and a community which inspires her to continue making her work, she said.

So when the museum issued its call in January 2021, some members of her community sent it to her.

“The National Museum in Wales put out an open call, that they wanted to do some work to reframe the narrative around Picton. Because they have a huge portrait of him – I think it is two metres (six feet) tall – in a gallery in their museum that is specified as the National Heroes of Wales.

“The museum decided they wanted to do some work around that portrait to address it and they put out an open call asking for black Trinidadians to respond to that work.

Black consciousness

“In that open call they specified they did not need the artist to be directly addressing Picton himself. Recontextualisation is something they are going to do in the institution but they wanted a work that kind of spoke to that and around these issues and related to black consciousness in TT. Present day but also post-colonial and colonial times.”

While she found the idea interesting, she finally decided to apply after getting a “bad drive.”

The “bad drive” was from someone she knew, a fellow artist.

“I recognised the person…and I called them and said, ‘Was that you giving me this terrible drive?’”

“They were like, ‘Yes. Also I hope you apply to this Picton thing.’

“By then this was the third or fourth time I had heard about it, and it was like the bad drive stopped me in my tracks and made me think I should just consider this project.”

Then she got an idea for the project that would involve tattooing.

In the project, tentatively called the Portal, Gesiye hopes to tattoo eight Trinidadians. She hopes to find them by issuing an open call through classified ads and on her various social media pages.

She is also going to be printing out posters that will be put on local streets named after Picton. She has found seven streets named after Picton and an entire area in south Trinidad that she did not know about, she added.

Colonial trauma

Through her work, she also wants to talk about the land, as she is very connected to the earth and her work has been informed by TT’s natural environment.

But more importantly for her, she wanted to deal with that in this work because she feels, “Colonial trauma has affected our relationship with the land.”

She said on a countrywide level, TT was involved in extraction from the land and much less involved in sustainable practices.

“I basically wanted to open up a conversation to take a look at with this project, the way that black people particularly, have been affected by that trauma around colonialism, slavery…

“Most black Trinidadians have ancestors who were brought to this land and who were forced to labour on this land.”

She added that people tossed the phrase "generational trauma" around, but it was a real thing. Gesiye said there has been some impact on people’s connection to the land, sense of real ownership and belonging and it shows in the way people care for the land.

She added that black Trinidadians were forced to work on the land but were not given land, post-slavery and Emancipation.

“It was not like, 'Every person gets this much land and you get to care for it as yours, this is where you grew up and this is your home.' There was not an addressing of the trauma that took place.”

She said people did not feel deeply connected to the land.

“I knew I wanted to do some kind of project around that. One day the idea just fell into my brain. The concept was basically around tattoos.”

“To have that conversation to bring a group of black Trinidadians together to have a conversation about the land. About our own experiences in connection to the land. Our ancestral knowledge of the land.”

Gesiye envisions the piece as a portal and a tattoo on each person’s chest, back and even over their hearts.

“The shape that has inspired the portal shape is actually based on the breeze blocks that you see around the country. because in a way that is how we let the outside into our homes.”

She said there are going to be eight portal-shaped tattoos that will frame a landscape.

While she is still thinking of exactly what is going to be in it, she said the Northern Range and El Tucuche are going to be part of the work for sure as well as some local flora.

Each tattoo will be unique to the person but similar to the others, she said.

The tattoos will be similar to the next but slightly moved so that when they are all put together frame by frame. it will create an animation.

The animation will be in the museum when the exhibition opens, as well as portraits of each person who participates in the project. There will also be a short film documenting the project. The film will include interviews from the participants talking about their connection to the land and the way they understand their relationship to the island.

'Disrupting history'

The exhibition is tentatively set to open in August next year, but the date has been shifted a few times, she said.

Gesiye has already begun her work.

In the release, she was quoted as saying, “I envision this piece as a ritual, a healing opportunity for black Trinidadians to reconnect to self, to this island and to each other.

“This work is not an attempt to rewrite history, it is a disruption of the narrative that is so often held up as a singular truth.”

Asked about the quote in which she said it is not about rewriting history but disrupting it, Gesiye said history is a story, one that is usually told by people who are in power.

“And what I am saying is that I am disrupting that narrative because I am operating from the understanding that history is a story.

“When we are taught history, we are taught that it is true, that it is fact, and that the person who is presenting it to us is presenting the facts of what has happened in the past.

“But I think it is important to understand that history is a story that is being told by – usually – the person who is in power. Regardless of who is telling the story, it is a story of what we think happened then, based on, of course, facts and information that we have presented.”

Gesiye sees this as being particularly true in the case of Sir Thomas Picton.

“The way that Picton’s history was taught in TT was that Picton was a great hero who came to the country and although he was a bit harsh he really was doing his best to save this poor little island.”

She said the telling of Picton’s history left out that he was known for torturing women.

“He – especially in the case of Luisa Calderon, the case that is most known – where he tortured a 14-year-old girl and then that went to trial. He was found guilty and then that was revoked, because they said that he tortured her under Spanish law and we had not actually converted to British law, under which it would have been illegal for him to torture her. And that is what I mean about the narrative.”

She said people are taught it as if it were fact because it was being told by someone who wanted to paint the history or time in a certain way.

Removal of statues

There were so many stories that people did not have access to because they were destroyed, she added.

There has been growing global discourse about the removal of colonial statues and images and Gesiye has had many conversations with friends and other artists about issues like this.

Asked if she sees herself doing more work addressing issues like these, Gesiye said she might.

“Those statues and the fact that they are still here, as well as the State’s resistance to remove them, I find quite fascinating.”

She said if the general public is saying it does not want that right now, she does not see the desire to hold on to these “colonial goalposts.”

“It is almost like we need to be brave and just go ahead...but I do think a part of it requires a conversation about what we really want.

“I do think that is something that has not been happening as much.”

She said while some conversations were likely to make some people uneasy, they were important conversations to have to allow for greater societal understanding.

And through her eyes, everyone’s feelings around the issues were valid.

For those interested in participating, Gesiye is asking people to keep a lookout on her social media and classified ads.