Call opens for submissions for ‘reparation’ art exhibition

Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica are collaborating on a visual art project, funded by the new Caribbean Culture Fund (CCF).

The project will result in a simultaneous visual art exhibition in the three nations, themed around the Caricom Ten-Point Plan for Reparatory Justice, a media release said.

The CCF, launched earlier this year, aims to promote social and cultural justice and foster intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding, by providing financial resources and programmes to support individual and collaborative projects led by artists and cultural organisations based in the region, the release said.

The project’s organising team included Junnel Lewis of Lewis’ Collection-LCS from TT, Katrina Coombs of Blaqmango, Jamaica; and Andrea King of Culture&Arts for Love&Living, Barbados. King said in the release, “We are delighted to be among the inaugural winners of this important new grant in the Caribbean. The grant affords multiple arts organisations and creative practitioners the opportunity to execute transformational projects, and generate employment along the value chain of arts production.”

She expressed her gratitude that the funders saw the social and cultural justice intent of the visual arts project.

Lewis, a visual artist known in TT for her style of work, said she feels great.

“I feel great, a sense of honour winning the grant. I hope we achieve a regional exchange of knowledge and experience, through this initiative of visual arts, especially being part of Caricom, and understanding the importance of the Caricom Ten-Point Plan, and its impact,” she said in the release.

Coombs, who was herself awarded an individual grant for the project, Touching the Waters, Embracing Our Land, said it underscores the importance of the theme of the project. Blaqmango Consultants is elated to be a part of the initiative being led by Culture & Arts for Love& Living, and congratulates the company on this bold step to draw attention to this very important topic of reparation, the release said.

“We hope that this partnership will provide a strong platform for diversity and collaboration through the islands and the visual arts,” Coombs said.

Participation in the visual art exhibition is open. The deadline for submission is November 30, with the exhibitions in member states to be mounted in February 2025.