Caribbean Creatives Art Show & Mixer call to artists
SPANISH TOWN native Erice Reid and Kalphonse Morris, owner of Urban Art Gallery, will organise the third annual Caribbean Creatives Art Show & Mixer on June 2, 2018, in Philadelphia.
The show is a community event that will feature the works of emerging Caribbean visual artists from the Philadelphia region.
This year, the Caribbean Creatives team has partnered with the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Art, Culture and Creative Economy to include an artists’ talk and live (Caribbean) music.
The works of the participating visual artists will be on display at the gallery throughout the month of June.
Reid, a visual artist and educator, specialises in African-inspired, black-and-white silhouettes with textured lines and rhinestones accents.
She says that she was inspired to launch the exhibit after discovering that there are many artists in the Philadelphia region who are from the Caribbean.
“I realised from exhibiting and attending local shows that many of my colleagues were from the Caribbean or of Caribbean descent,” she said. “I was amazed and proud but not surprised to see the talent coming from the Caribbean.
Philadelphia is a city rich in culture, and I thought it important to highlight the work and contributions of Caribbean artists to the local (art) scene. This event allows us to shine a light on these talented artists while sharing the Caribbean (art) culture with the local community.”
Kalphonse Morris, owner of the gallery and whose parents are Jamaicans, said: “It is important to bring awareness to the Caribbean artist and to the Caribbean culture. Philadelphia has a large Caribbean (immigrant) community, so this is our way, of recognising the contributions of local Caribbean artists while giving guests a visual, culinary and musical experience.”
Last year’s event featured live painting by Jay Coreano from Puerto Rico and the works of Amber Nicole Williams, Ariel William from Barbados, Eric Rivera from Puerto Rico, Kayode Malomo from Nigeria, and Sade Campbell from Jamaica.
Interested artists can submit images of their work and a biography to caribbeancreatives@gmail.com. The deadline for submission is March 23. conformed strongly to masculine norms (broadly described as that of status, toughness and antifemininity) tend to have poorer mental health and have less favourable attitudes towards seeking psychological help.”
There are more questions that are asked than answers that can be given in this regard, according to Akita, and there is a clear and definitive need to change the mindsets and approach.
Akita’s presentation was a part of the Bureau of Gender Affairs’ annual school education programme, which involves visits to schools, where gender-based issues are highlighted, discussed and possible solutions recommended to deal with them.
As a part of her mandate with the bureau to promote gender equality in Jamaica, Akita creates communication and public-education materials, including content for social media.
She disseminates information on the Bureau of Gender Affairs’ activities, policies and genderrelated programmes, and assists the agency with community sensitisation solutions, programme development and survey data processing.
She said after touching upon these subjects and the complexities evolving from them, most students, especially in all-boys schools, say that they feel men enjoy privileges, are aggressive and violence perpetrators in all sense.
VICTIMS
“Men are victims too,” Akita said. “According to studies, in the United States, one in four men experience physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime.”
And most of these cases, she continued, go unreported.
The solutions to move to the positive and healthy traits, among others, she said, are to seek help and freely express one’s emotions, and having the courage to exercise responsible behaviours.
“A study conducted in the United Kingdom shows that males who exhibited traits of healthy masculinity had lower death rates from coronary heart disease,” she said.
Then there is the question of promiscuity, which Akita strongly advised the youngsters to desist from.
“Having one partner is healthy; from lower risks of contracting HIV and STIs, it provides greater social stability,” she said. “When a father is physically and emotionally present at home, it creates a healthy environment and better relationship patterns.
“And you will live longer,” she said.
It is a long and challenging journey to build ideal-case scenarios for masculine behaviours, but at the end of the day, Akita said, it would be worth the effort.
The solutions are simple. Channels for honest communication, without prejudice or preconceived notions – such as imbibing best practices and apprising young men of cultural sensitivities – need to be opened.
No one is perfect, but efforts can be made to overcome the imperfections and try to make a perfect world.
■ The trip to Jamaica College was facilitated by Japan International Cooperation Agency as a part of their press tour to visit some of the grass-roots and development assistance projects undertaken by the organisation in Jamaica. Send feedback to amitabh.sharma@gleanerjm.com.