The Colleen Lewis Reading Room at Fresh Milk, Curatorial Residency, 2019, Andrea Carter
Barbados: curatorial residency
Our international project CONTESTED DESIRES began in November 2019 with a curatorial residency hosted by partner organisation Fresh Milk in St George, Barbados. Producers from all partners came together to explore Barbadian arts and heritage, to inform the CONTESTED DESIRES programme and critical thinking. This immersion in the cultural field begin with an in-depth historical presentation by Kevin Farmer, Deputy Director of the Barbados Museum & Historical Society. This presentation covered a wide ranging and fascinating contextual discussion, encompassing Barbados as an island forged by contestation, the indigenous inhabitants of the island, the timeline of Indentured labour to slave labour and post independent Barbados: the notion of coming to terms with identity.
Following this Ewan Atkinson and Allison Thompson presented Punch Creative Arena, an arts initiative they co-founded in 2013. The initiative centred on activities in the Barbados Community College’s gallery space as a means to generate further collective and experimental artistic activity on the island for Barbadian artists. Curator, Oneka Small then presented the work of Artists Alliance Barbados, a pop-up curatorial platform established in 2016, and a tour at Union Collaborative (Bridgetown) led by Founder, Architect and Cultural Entrepreneur, Israel Mapp followed. It was a great start to this two year project, about colonial heritage and contemporary culture.
Following this Ewan Atkinson and Allison Thompson presented Punch Creative Arena, an arts initiative they co-founded in 2013. The initiative centred on activities in the Barbados Community College’s gallery space as a means to generate further collective and experimental artistic activity on the island for Barbadian artists. Curator, Oneka Small then presented the work of Artists Alliance Barbados, a pop-up curatorial platform established in 2016, and a tour at Union Collaborative (Bridgetown) led by Founder, Architect and Cultural Entrepreneur, Israel Mapp followed. It was a great start to this two year project, about colonial heritage and contemporary culture.