Artists around the world have their work included in a new research and art exhibition that opens in London - focussing on Caribbean people and their creativity in the face of poverty, inequality and violence.
The exhibition will launch at the British Library’s Knowledge Centre on Sunday 25 June as part of a two-day conference, before touring the UK as mobile digital research and 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 the University of Birmingham and joining experts in Caribbean Studies in the UK, Netherlands, West Indies and Canada.
Exhibition organisers searched 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 exhibition is part of the Leverhulme Trust-funded research network project, which focuses on the ways in which Caribbean people use creativity to negotiate the struggles to sustain secure livelihoods and neighbourhoods.
CARISCC is led by Dr Patricia Noxolo of the University of Birmingham, who said: “We’re delighted to have found vibrant, thought-provoking pieces of work that will reflect the experiences of the Caribbean community around the world.
“We live in uncertain and insecure times, but, with this exhibition 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 believe that the artwork chosen from this competition will reflect that.”
The exhibition will also be displayed online and is part of a conference titled ‘Caribbean In/Securities and Creativity: Diasporic Dialogues’. It also features a major new artwork by sculptor Sonia Barrett based on interviews about security and creativity with people in the Caribbean community in Leeds.
CARISCC is an international research network which links leading universities in Caribbean studies. It has a full programme of events running until 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 third Postgraduate Conference on Caribbean In/securities and Creativity alongside the international research network meeting at the University of West Indies (Mona), Jamaica, from 15-17 January, 2018.
For more information and interview/photographic opportunities, please contact Tony Moran, International Communications Manager, University of Birmingham on +44 (0) 121 414 8254 or +44 (0)782 783 2312. 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.
- Follow on CARISSC on Twitter.
- 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. Each artist was allowed to submit up to three artworks.
- 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.
- The Eccles Centre for American Studies works to increase awareness and use of the British Library's extensive collections of books, manuscripts, journals, newspapers and sound recordings related to the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. Founded in 1991 by David and Mary Eccles, the Centre works in collaboration with the Library's Americas curatorial team and external partners interested in the promotion of North American studies in the UK. The Centre runs a lively and diverse events programme, funds research and offers training in the North American collections, and produces bibliographic guides and web exhibitions designed to introduce the quality and breadth of the collection