The celebration known as Carnival has no singular description. In Trinidad and Tobago, it’s celebrated between June and July, sometimes with participants rubbing down their bodies with mud and paint. In the Bahamas, it takes place around Christmas, stemming from the time slaves were permitted to spend time with their families around the holidays. In Martinique, Carnival is celebrated in the days leading up to Lent, and often includes a massive bonfire around Ash Wednesday.
“Carnival really straddles a lot of different modes,” New Orleans curator Claire Tancons explained to The Huffington Post Arts. “It’s an artistic practice, it’s a mode of public address, it’s a tool for resistance. It’s a touristic device. It is not one thing for one person.”
Ebony G. Patterson, Invisible Presence: Bling Memories, performance, April 27, 2014, Kingston, Jamaica. Courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago.
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The exhibition is as much a lesson in alternate art history as it is an abbreviated tour through Caribbean customs.
“In the context of contemporary art and the discourse thereof, it is one of the cultural traditions through which artists of Caribbean descent have found a path toward performance. At a time when the discourse of performance is so prevalent within the contemporary art context, it’s important for me to highlight these genealogies of artistic practices and where they stem from. They were not inspired by the European avant-garde of the last century, which is the discourse usually associated with performance art. Instead they were inspired, at least in part by, some of these cultural traditions which offer an incredible repository of creative practices.”
“En Mas: Carnival and Performance Art of the Caribbean” features artwork by John Beadle, Charles Campbell, Christophe Chassol, Nicolás Dumit Estévez, Marlon Griffith, Hew Locke, Lorraine O’Grady, Ebony G. Patterson, and Cauleen Smith. The show runs from March 7 until June 7, 2015 at the Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans.
