The World Reimagined Art Residency UK Reflective Journal - Phase 1 Wysing

Some of you have been eager to hear what I did whilst on art residency in the UK earlier this year. I would like to share with you my creative journey as one of the lucky artists commissioned to paint a globe sculpture as part of the exciting project by The World Reimagined.    

About The World Reimagined
The World Reimagined is a ground-breaking, vibrant art education project to transform how we understand the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans and its impact on all of us so that we can make racial justice a reality, together. Supported by Official Presenting Partner SKY, the project will see a trail of large Globe sculptures across seven cities including: Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool City Region, London, and Swansea. From 13 August to 31 October 2022, the globes will be displayed across these cities, inspiring and galvanising communities to better understand what it means to be Black and British. Bringing to life the reality and impact of the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans by remembering the past, whilst still moving forward - celebrating the spirit and culture that has endured so much suffering. With support from The Arts Council England, the Caribbean artist residences have delivered significant, proven community benefit to the host cities.

The trails will be the centre of learning, community and heritage programmes that invite everyone to take part: www.theworldreimagined.org/

'Home from Home’
As a British born artist who migrated back to the Caribbean island of Dominica four years ago, this was an ideal opportunity to reflect on my return to England as one of the Caribbean artists commissioned by The World Reimagined.

The Six week arts residency was spent between two sites, Wysing Arts Centre in Cambridgeshire, England and Hospitafield Arts Centre in Arbroath, Scotland. This blog post explores the first three weeks at Wysing  which was a research and development phase. The following post will cover the second phase in Scotland and painting of my design onto a sculptural globe. 
 
March 10th   Journey Over
I am grateful for this amazing opportunity, to explore, create and reconnect to the British landscape, the place of my birth and home for most of my adult life, before relocating to Dominica four years ago,

'Home' is something I reflect as I explore concepts of up rootedness and migration which inform my practice. Reflection on how I connect to both the Dominica and the United Kingdom as ‘Home’ is inevitable with the Caribbean having such an entangled colonial history. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean, masked up, holding my corner on the long plane journey over from Dominica, limited conversation in these ‘Covid times’. How quickly as humans we form habits, segregate, make others feel ‘different’ and alienated. I reflect on the wars taking place, lives uprooted and the resulting trauma. I question, is the global situation today a continuation of the same story of economics, greed and dominance, is it all interconnected ?
 
14th March 2022    Wysing Arts, Centre
The first three weeks of my residency were spent at Wysing Arts Centre, a beautiful and welcoming arts space set in the Cambridgeshire countryside. A space for artists to reflect, experiment and create. As I ventured outside I was struck by the beauty and freshness of the season of spring. The plants I am so familiar with burst forth from moist soil with healthy new growth; nettles, daisies and brambles. Greeted by a sunny headed dandelion…I smiled, so different to the species I have seen in Dominica with their droopy heads, but family all the same. A thorny bramble caught my arm, pulling me back…reminding me to be careful but confident in my step. I wandered along grassy verges, clambered over wooden stys into fields and bare branched woodland. How great it feels to be free. Through the trees I caught glimpses of an impressive church steeple. I passed a man with dog and we greeted each other briefly, moving on. I recall feeling slightly uncomfortable and glanced back long after…reaffirming my senses as in the distance he stood and stared in my direction. I emerged into the village of Bourne to the welcome sound of children playing in a school yard, past quaint houses with neat gardens and straw thatched roofs which took me back in time. 

Watercolour sketch using pigment extracted from fresh nettle leaves on site

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15th March
On opening the door to a cold, grey and wet day, I promptly closed it back. I have become disconnected to the cold British weather and felt the need to now mentally prepare for outside. I took advantage of the grim weather for indoor explorations of the Wysing site, where I enjoyed the gallery space and ‘A Tender Ascent’, an immersive audio – visual installation. This show brought together choreography, sound and sculpture, a culmination of experimental collaboration between choreographer Maeva Berthelot and musician, vocalist and DJ Coby Sey, with sculptures by Andre Bavard. The surround sound and boom boxes in the seats worked well with the imagery taking the body through a powerful and very emotive trip. Time was spent also looking through the portfolios of artists who hold studio spaces here and had interesting conversation and sharing with staff and artists as they came and went. There is a community spirit here and great to know there are spaces like this where artists feel at home.
For me it is important to touch base with feelings after a long journey and explorations of ’cultural duality’. What does it mean to be ‘at home’ in two contrasting geographical and cultural locations where weather, landscape and culture all contrast? This opportunity is a luxury as an artist and I value lone time and opportunities to connect with other creative minds.

Mapping Space

​I occupied a very comfortable live/work unit at Wysing which looked out onto open fields at the front. This was home for the three week research phase of my residency. Circles were mapped out on the wall and floor to visualize the size of the sculptural globe to be painted. Each circle being 1.4 m in diameter with key words placed on the edges and within. These circles became entities in themselves, spaces of  grounding and reflection which I circumnavigated and spaces where I returned to find myself. By physically placing myself within the circle on the floor, walking the circumference, dancing, sitting in the centre or placing of object and sketches within it, each object for that moment became the point of focus. Strangely this ‘circle of centering’ became an integral part of my daily process at Wysing before painting and even during the painting process. I pondered on the reflexivity and investigative nature of my practice and the questioning of the things I am passionate about; home, family, plants, landscape, history, textiles and entanglement. According to Mersch (2017) Re–search is a question that questions its own quest, so I feel confident in my search, for whatever I am searching for and go where the threads lead me.
 
Reflection on circles
Circles in many cultures represent life cycles and continuity. My ultimate task when I move on to the second half of my residency at Hospitafield in Scotland will be to paint the exterior surface area of the globe, a surface which will be publicly seen. The two circular spaces here at Wysing represent the inner core of the globe, the unseen workings and I guess in a sense, the soul of the globe, the soul which may or may never get seen by the viewing public. The artists’ questionings, pain, doubts, joys, triumphs, moments of revelation. The inner thought processes which go into creating. What manifests from the inside outwards is essentially 'the expanding soul'.

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​16th March    Creative threads  
With the sun out in all its glory and warm enough for breakfast outside. A couple meetings  scheduled and time spent picking threads to prepare for experimental textured printing. Why my obsession to pull threads, weaving stories, to make sense of history? It is this exploratory and reflexive time which artist need and crave, time to germinate ideas and have revelations. The sunlight on the woven fabric casts such amazing shadows feeding ideas for installation work and sculpture.

As each thread is pulled the structure of the fabric alters, weakening the stability. Each thread is a single entangled reflection or thought with a life of its very own. Each thread can be unravelled even further into strands, then fibres and dust like particles. 
A walk up to the Wysing artist studio spaces, I met two artists who were very welcoming and happy to share their work in progress. We had a useful exchange about natural dyes and a book ‘making Ink’ was recommended. It always fascinates me listening artists talk about their journeys and what is important to them. Very often as artists we work in isolation, not always getting opportunities to fully share what we ‘actually do’ and that creativity to us is a fundamental human need, a sentiment not always understood. Feeling connected and valued as part of a community is also a basic need.
 
Research and visits
18th March    Cambridge botanical gardens
Online research highlighted the glasshouse as a good place to visit as it included a mix of tropical economic as well as ornamental plants I am interested in sketching botanical specimens such as Hevea brasiliensis (rubber), Swietenia sp (mahogany), Cabomba (kapok), vanilla, coffee, sugar cane, rice and cotton. On my visit I identify many ornamental plants which grow in Dominica and find some new and unusual one which could inspire design ideas. One of the glasshouses is closed for repair after the storms a few weeks ago, and I identified cocoa and kapok plants but did not see many of the economic plants which I was hoping to draw. A very productive and enjoyable day out.   

​Connecting to Tropical plants in the hot house section at Cambridge Botanical Gardens

Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge,  Thursday 24th March
Quest for ‘Golden Pineapples’
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Wherever I travel a particular plant speaks to me in relation to my time spent in that place. My research in Cambridge for symbolism and plants with economic and colonial connections highlighted the pineapple (Ananas comosus) as such a plant. Appearing on each research visit. Pineapple were an important medicine and food for indiginous people int the Americas also used as a welcome symbol and considered ‘King of fruits’. The first botanical image to appear in Britain was said to have been in 1629. Pineapples in the 18th century became symbolic of colonialism, high status, wealth, often grown in hothouses and specially designed pineries across Great Britain at huge expense. This fruit became a fashionable icon appearing in 18th and 19th century architecture, tableware and art as seen in my visit to Fitzwilliam museum in Cambridge. 

​Pineapple inspired architectural details and Staffordshire pottery coffee jug at Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
     

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​Wimpole Hall and Walled Gardens     Monday 28th March
Researching the history of the area I came across the name Wimpole Hall. This stately home aroused my curiousity as it was included in The National Trust interim report of properties with Colonial and Slavery connections. In the photo it appears ominous yet impressive in its grandeur. Gardens designed by Capability Brown and Repton, pineries and vineries, glasshouses stirred my botanical interest. The building has a long history, changing hands from chancellors to writers. The National Trust has revealed the historical truths of such places with Transatlantic Trade and slavery connections. This has met with much opposition, in some cases with threats of funding withdrawals for those who speak of such HIStories.

It saddens me to think that in the year 2022 there is still so much resistance to exploring historical 'truth' and alternative stories of trade and Empire. Everywhere we look in architecture, food, art, colonial history is entangled in the very structural fabric of the heritage landscape both in Britain and in the Caribbean. The British have been very fastidious at keeping archives and documenting Empire with much information preserved in black, white and shades of grey for those interested in more balanced accounts of global history to view.

It is time to remove the bandages which hide the wounds and impact on the psyche and wellbeing of every single one of us, in one way or another. To acknowledge the emotions which keep us stuck, the trauma, the guilt, the shame, the blame. Give the wounds air and light to breathe, for the hole is where the healing lies.

My interests were drawn to Philip Yorke 1st Earle of Hardwicke (1690 – 1764) who together with Charles Talbot issued the 1729 ‘Yorke – Talbot’ opinion which stated that runaway enslaved Africans coming to Britain were not free and could be legally returned to the plantations in the West Indies. There are accounts of pineapples being grown at Wimpole. Gardener James Dall recorded a patent in 1830 for pine pits which were very efficient for growing pineapples without fire or heat, but using a system of leaf mounds 5 -6 feet high in front, 7 to 8ft high in the back and 5ft thick. These proved very efficient as he practiced this method for four growing 500-600 plants. 250 fruit were said to be cut annually as recorded in the The Repertory of patent inventions and other discoveries and inventions (1830). The cost of one pineapple plant in that period was phenomenal. In Dominica part of my practice is documenting growth. I have tried to grow pineapples and even in a tropical climate after three years I am only just seeing the baby fruit of my labours. 

​​A visit to Wimploe Hall with the director at Wysing was very worthwhile. After walking round the ground floor interior of the house, we enjoyed the walled garden with many varieties of apple and cherry trees. Speaking to the National Trust Gardeners on site we were escorted into a  greenhouse where we were shown baby Castor plants, another historic economic plant which grow profusely in Dominica. Castor (Ricinus communis) plants are known for producing the deadly poison ricin. In Dominica the plant has been used for centuries by Africans and indigenous populations to make Castor oil as part of local ‘bush medicine’, to treat skin conditions and as a hair tonic. We were also shown a modern brick built pit which was recently used for experimental pineapple growing. This however proved too costly and time consuming. The large and beautiful glasshouse which was once part of the right wing of the building was long demolished and there is no evidence of the original pineapple pits or pineapple growing on the site today.   

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​Tate Gallery Exhibitions  Thursday 31st March
Life Between Islands – Tate Britain
I was very fortunate to visit the 'Life between Islands' exhibition with Hannah from Wysing. This exhibition at the Tate Britain featured work of Caribbean British artists from 1950’s to the present. The exhibition derives its title from the late cultural theorist Stuart Hall’s memoires ‘Familiar Stranger: A life between Islands (2017). Hall inspires my thinking about duality, identity and belonging. He believes “We are always in a process of cultural formation. Culture is not a matter of ontology of being,  but of becoming.”
 
The exhibition was an emotional trip being able to personally identify with the historical transitions and struggles as a British citizen with parents of the so called ‘Windrush generation’. I smile as I think of my Mum’s reaction to this as she often stresses that she did not come to Britain on the ‘Empire Windrush’. 

My migration journey is important to my quest. I was born in Britain, went back to Dominica as a toddler, spent my informative childhood years in Dominica before moving back to Britain as a teenager in the 70’s. I have lived here most of my adult life before relocating three years ago to live in Dominica once again. Even there I have a British stamp on my head as the accent, and certain mannerisms are ingrained. I am rooted in both places with a broken African ancestral root, very difficult to trace but which I feel strongly in my drum beat spirit.

​Donald Locke’s captivating and powerful installation pieced together from material fragments fused with Colonial imagery speaks of that spirit and left me emotionally moved as I worked my way through the carnival  revellers, each one unique and frozen in time. I felt slightly disturbed as I witnessed a nearby father nearby say to a toddler “Do you think this person is happy or sad”...pointing to the image of a white man’s head being carried along in a box by the procession. Carnival for me is such an important  time of reverence, remembrance and celebration of emancipation. As both a carnival goer and costume maker I am caught up in ingenuity and magic of this piece.

The exhibition is well curated and as we move through room by room certain pieces resonate deeply. ‘Paradise Omeros’ by Isaac Julien 1962, a humorous yet sad three screen projection fusing traditional West Indian scenes of the 70’s with a young Caribbean British boys’ uncomfortable and questioning alienation from ‘his’ culture. Very emotive and powerful. Alberta Whittle’s mesmerizing and haunting, Scottish ballads play as she moves against a backdrop of waves and mountains in a Scottish landscape. My next stop was up North to Arbroath, Scotland for the second half of this residency. 

Images below feature works by 3 contemporary artists exploring culture and identity:                 : Donald Locke, Alberta Whittle and Lubaina Himid

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​​At times I felt like a tropical hunter. My prize appeared once again as I viewed Lubaina Himid's exhibition at The Tate Modern. The pineapple jelly mould stood out among the ceramic objects interspersed with miniature trees in her piece titled ‘What are monuments for’.
 
Conclusion
I have thoroughly enjoyed being at Wysing arts centre. The team went out of their way to make my stay comfortable and engaging. The organisation has a strong ethos of sharing and caring, not only for each other but for the environment. It has been a very special experience connecting with amazing staff and artists. I value the sharing of technical expertise, conversation as well as exploring common personal, cultural and migratory experiences and building relationships with other artists on site. The balance of solo time and stimulating engagement has been invaluable. Spending time alone has highlighted my need for solo time and the importance of creating this space for creation an revival in a busy everyday life. I will take this experience forward with me to the strengthening of my practice.  A big Thank you to all.  

Look out for the next Blog Post. I will share my Scotland experience at Hospitafield,