Artists around the world have the opportunity to have their work included in a major new exhibition that focuses on Caribbean people and their creativity in the face of poverty, inequality and violence.
The exhibition opens in London this summer before touring the UK as mobile digital art exhibitions in Leeds, Glasgow, Birmingham and London.
It links to Caribbean In/Securities: Creativity and Negotiation in the Caribbean (CARISCC) – a global research project led by experts at the University of Birmingham and joining experts in Caribbean security in the UK, Netherlands, West Indies and Canada.
Exhibition organisers are looking for artwork submissions that address how Caribbean people experience security and insecurity in daily life, yet contribute strongly to regional and global political and artistic cultures.
The deadline for entries has been extended to Friday 17 March 2017.
The exhibition connects with the Leverhulme Trust-funded research network project, which focuses on the struggle to sustain secure livelihoods and neighbourhoods, and the ways in which creative people take risks to fuel their creativity.
CARISCC is led by Dr Patricia Noxolo of the University of Birmingham, who said: “We want to start a conversation about security. There is a general fear that we are not safe, but now is the time to think about how we define both ‘security’ and ‘insecurity’.
“Our research project focusses on the Caribbean because it provides an interesting and fresh angle from which to approach security. The region is a melting pot of social, economic and security issues – we hope that the artwork chosen from this competition will reflect that.
“There is no need to be a professional artist, but we’re looking for vibrant, thought provoking pieces of work that will reflect the experiences of the Caribbean community around the world.”
Artwork can be produced using any media, but winning entries will be displayed online and must be suitable for digital curation. Entries must address the theme of Caribbean in/securities in either of two categories: Young Creatives (16 and 17-year-olds) or Artists (18-year-olds and over).
The exhibition opens in June as part of a conference titled ‘Caribbean In/Securities and Creativity: Diasporic Dialogues’. It also features a major new artwork by Yorkshire-based sculptor Sonia Barrett based on interviews about security and creativity with people in the Caribbean community in Leeds. Her work 'Merging with the sound radical immediate black joy' is pictured above.
CARISCC is an international research network which links leading universities in Caribbean studies. It has a full programme of events running between January 2016 and December 2018. The network comprises of the Universities of Birmingham, Leeds, Dundee, Glasgow, Amsterdam, West Indies and Brock University, in Ontario, Canada.
Members are holding their second Postgraduate Conference on Caribbean In/securities and Creativity alongside the international research network meeting at the University of Leeds from 8 - 10 March 2017.
For more information, please contact Tony Moran, International Communications Manager, University of Birmingham on +44 (0) 121 414 8254 or +44 (0)782 783 2312 or t.moran@bham.ac.uk. For out-of-hours enquiries, please call +44 (0) 7789 921 165.
- The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions, its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers and teachers and more than 5,000 international students from over 150 countries.
- More information about CARISCC can be found on their Wordpress blog.
- Winning entries for the exhibition will be curated through a project website and exhibited digitally between June 2017 and December 2018 at venues around the UK. Download the entry form (Word - 25Kb).
- Each artist can submit up to three artworks - each artwork must be accompanied by an explanatory text of 200-500 words, discussing how the artwork addresses the topic of Caribbean In/Securities and Creativity. Artists must also submit a short artist statement within their application forms.
- For any enquiries regarding artwork submissions, please contact Dr Caroline Moraes
- The Leverhulme Trust was established in 1925 under the Will of the first Viscount Leverhulme. It is one of the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK, distributing funds of more than £80 million every year.