Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Jemima Charles: Cones

20 to 25 January, 2010




Cones is an "interactive exhibition of colour and light transparency" by the young artist Jemima Charles. She writes:

"Cones deals with visual perception and the role of the retina. The cone is one of the basic building blocks of form construction, and seeing is one of the processes of visual art. The viewer interacts with the work when light coming from inside the work falling on the retina of the eye generates visual stimuli that are transmitted to the brain via nerve impulses. Arriving impulses are combined with established experiences and habits of seeing, thus visual perception can differ from person to person....

"Perceptions can be influenced by social connections, political connections, spiritual connections and many more. I hope that the viewer will leave marks of intimate relationships they have to these colours."

The materials of this project are inspired by the art of nebuta, a Japanese paper lantern festival. In 2008, Charles participated in a nebuta workshop in Japan. On returning to Trinidad, in order to further explore the medium, she began experimenting with wire-bending and basic geometrical shapes.

The artist will begin installing Cones at Alice Yard two days before the formal opening. On Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 January (12.00 to 7.00 pm), visitors are welcome to participate in the installation by helping to paint the paper cones. (Please bring a paintbrush.)

The exhibition opens at 7.00 pm on Friday 22 January and runs until Monday 25.

All are invited.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Helping Haiti

Child's shoes, Haiti

Child’s shoes, Haiti, 2002


Following yesterday’s catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, many people in the Caribbean are keen to help with relief efforts. The MEP blog has posted a list of links to international agencies which are accepting money donations online, as well as information on groups based in Trinidad organising donation drives, including:

= Foodstuffs, blankets and clothing can be dropped off (please label all bags) to the COP (Congress of the People) Flagship Office on the corner of Tragarete Road and Broome Street in Port of Spain between 9am and 3pm

= ITNAC (Is There Not A Cause) is collecting non-perishable food items, clothing, bedding, temporary building supplies, medical supplies, and toiletries. For details, contact Avonelle Hector-Joseph (firstsamuel1729@yahoo.com) or Mellissa Lezama (868-714-5610/396-3330)

We urge all friends of Alice Yard to make a donation of some kind. Recovery from this disaster will be long, painful, and very expensive. It’s still unclear how many thousands of people have been injured or killed, and damage to Haiti’s infrastructure seems immense.

For ongoing coverage, see the Haiti Earthquake 2010 special coverage page at Global Voices.

UPDATES: Silicon Caribe has posted information on where to make donations of food, clothes, etc. in Jamaica.

Another list of relief links from Miami-based Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philp.

Other international NGOs who have launched appeals:

Partners in Health: community-based health services in Haiti
Architecture for Humanity: supporting infrastructure reconstruction, including earthquake-resistant housing

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The photo above was posted online by Christopher Cozier in 2008. He wrote:

“This was the only photo from my entire time while in Haiti. On my last visit [in 2002], I just could not take pictures. I had to ask a colleague (Karole Gizolme) to take this image for me. I noticed the shoes on the ground near to where I was sitting. Something about the way that the shoes had become so worn out struck me. I kept thinking that no one growing child could have worn that shoe long enough for it to become so worn down. The shoes were just on the ground in a yard in the Capital.”

Thursday, January 7, 2010

12 the Band (+ special guests) in performance

Friday 8 January, 2010, at 7.30 pm

free+three 12 sheldon

Sheldon Holder of 12 performing at Alice Yard. Photo by Richard Rawlins


2010 is nearly a week old, but it's not too late the celebrate the start of the new year with 12, Alice Yard's house band. On Friday 8 January, 12 will host a special concert with guest performers Blue Emperor, Gyazette, and Stop.Motion, at the rooftop terrace of Tamnak Thai (13 Queen's Park East, Port of Spain). The show starts at 7.30 pm, and tickets (purchasable at the door) cost $150.

The event will help raise funds for 12's upcoming trip to Hartford, Connecticut, where the band will perform at Real Art Ways as part of the ongoing Rockstone and Bootheel programme.

For more information, contact helloaliceyard@gmail.com.