Artist Christopher Cozier’s Made in China, a three-dimensional version of an image that recurs in his recent works on paper, is featured in The Global Africa Project at the Museum of Arts and Design.
Cozier writes:
“‘Made in China’ stamps have been so much a part of our lives growing up in Caribbean. In the past it was pencils and plastic pencil-sharpeners, yellow twelve-inch rulers, etc. Modest items with all the associations of developing countries and low level consumption. Today, in the same locations, for people with bigger budgets, it is monolithic structures and narratives of progress.
“I bought this little stamp in a mall in Port of Spain. I began to see these little stamps more and more over the years. Apparently they are quite commonly used for labelling objects on arrival in small shops. Why are they being labelled like this here in Trinidad? What is the value of labelling my work this way in narratives of development and progress? So far I have begun to label drawings of pedestals for politicians to stand upon. Within the narrative of ‘development’ this object can allow them to feel taller and more important, or they could use it to hang themselves.”
Read more at Christopher Cozier’s blog
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