Dr Ray Costello’s forthcoming talk at the International Slavery Museum, Liverpool, on Friday 21 October 2011: “Black Salt: Early Black Sailors and Nelson’s navy. A talk on the experience of seamen of African descent in Nelson’s Royal navy”.
Places are limited – for more events details click here
On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the earthquake that ravaged Haiti in January 2010, this collaborative exhibition organised by MoCADA and CCCADI offered contemporary work by artists who are examining the spirituality, aesthetics, and re-construction of Haiti. Through an open call, visual, performing and literary artists – as well as musicians and filmmakers – were invited to submit work that is centered on a conceptual rethinking of the cosmological and socio-political conditions in Haiti at the present moment. Over twenty artists were selected to participate in Reimagining Haiti featuring works in painting, photography, video, installation, illustration and mixed media.
The exhibition will be on view at Caribbean Cultural Center/African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) from January 13th to May 8th, 2011 and at Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art (MoCADA) from January 20th to May 8th, 2011. Jabari Owens-Bailey sat down with co-curator Shante Cozier to interview her regarding the Exhibition and explore her take on the process of creating such an important and transformative exhibition.
S: Shante Cozier
J: Jabari Owens-Bailey
J: Why is Reimagining Haiti an important exhibition?
S: The exhibition is very important because it marks a year after the earthquake. The first part of the exhibition opened on the 13th of January at Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute and the second part on the 20th at MoCADA. The idea of Re-imagining Haiti is important for us because it is one exhibition conceptualized differently in two spaces, and we are dealing with the idea of re-conceptualizing a nation through artwork.
J: You briefly touched on this, but what is the significance of the dual platform of the exhibition in being at two locations?
To read the full conversation click here.
Contributed by: Jabari Owens-Bailey
Posted in Black Atlantic Resource Updates, Exhibitions, Research
Tagged Black Diaspora, Caribbean, Haiti, MoCADA, Photography, Visual Sources
The Black Atlantic Resource is pleased to present a review of Dr. Daniel McNeil’s, Sex and Race in the Black Atlantic by Muli Amaye
As a part of the Routledge Studies series on African and Black Diaspora this book is a necessary and useful addition. The fact that it brings a lot of research and theory together makes it a good starting point for information on an important part of the diaspora that is often overlooked, other than with curiosity or somewhat derogatory terms.
Overall the book is informative and provides the reader with extensive notes at the end broken down by chapters and a thorough bibliography. McNeil has linked theories and philosophies to literature and contemporary TV/film in a way that provides the reader with understandable examples and brings the text to life. The writing is accessible and readable using language in a way that opens the book up from pure academia and puts it into the public sphere.
The book is split into 6 main chapters plus a preface and a conclusion. The headings for the chapters do not give a lot of information to the reader looking for specific information, however, the short preface deals with this. Each chapter draws on what has been written previously i.e. Schulyer, Rank and Dubois are used comparatively throughout, which gives the book coherence.
Overall this book is a comprehensive look at the mixed race population bringing the debate right up to date and offering a fresh look at theories and philosophies by introducing creative expression into the forum. By challenging what has been written and debated before, McNeil encourages the reader to think beyond what has always been on offer by leading theorists and to question whether it is time for a fresh look.
