Tag: Alexis Alleyne Caputo

The Caribbean Fine Art Fair Goes Virtual!

On By davidemmanuelnoelIn Visual Art & MusicLeave a comment

This month I am pleased to exhibit in this year’s Caribbean Fine Art Fair (CaFA Fair) The organizers of the Caribbean Fine Art Fair (CaFA Fair) are ensuring the current pandemic does not bring the annual arts showcase to a halt.

From March 10 to 24, the work of over 70 prolific visual artists from the Caribbean and the Diaspora will be on display in a virtual gallery at Caribbean.global for the first time ever.

During the same period, seven emerging Barbadian artists will take centre stage at the Central Bank of Barbados’ Exchange Interactive Centre in an exhibit titled “Non-Traditional”. Members of the public can view by appointment the works of John Alleyne, Brandon K. Best, Alex Gibson, Housing Area, Sydney McConney, Chris Rocket, and Akilah Watts. The art in this exhibit will also be highlighted on the Caribbean.global website.

Simultaneously, the New York-based Calabar Gallery, Ebony Art Gallery and nine individual Diaspora artists will be showcased in “Diaspora Dialogue VIII”, an exhibit featuring artists from Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, the USA and Zambia.

The countries represented by participants in the 11th Annual CaFA Fair include Barbados, the Bahamas, Dominica, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the US Virgin Islands.

“This year, patrons will have full online access to artwork in a range of media. We will engage everyone with video content and enhance the exhibitions with virtual panels and presentations,” says Anderson Pilgrim, Executive Director of the CaFA Fair.

The events kick off on March 12 at 8:00 p.m. with the digital launch of the “Non-Traditional” exhibit, which is curated by Zoe Osbourne of Mahogany Culture. This will be followed by live discussions on March 13 and 14 at 2:00 p.m. with Osbourne and the participating artists.

The live discussions don’t end there. On March 20 at 2:00 p.m. I join interdisciplinary artist and anthropologist Alexis Alleyne-Caputo to lead a discussion with invited guests on the topic “Art in a Post-Digital COVID World”.

On March 24 at 5:00 p.m., CaFA Fair 2021 comes to a close with a live event.

All the events can be accessed free of cost, online at www.cafafair.com and www.caribbean.global.

The itinerary for this year’s Bridgetown International Arts Festival, which is slated for March 19 to 21, can also be found at www.cafafair.com.

CaFA Fair is one of the largest annual art exhibitions in the Caribbean and this year’s virtual fair is crafted to satisfy the needs of artists and art lovers alike.

For more information, please email info@cafafair.com.

 

‘Colonial Currents: Black Women, Water, Trauma, and Baptism’ At The 15th National Black Writers Conference

On By davidemmanuelnoelIn Literature & Word, Society & PoliticsLeave a comment

The Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York (CBL) presents the 15th National Black Writers Conference (NBWC2020). The conference, which started on Wednesday, runs until Saturday, November 14, 2020. The event, in association with Akila Worksongs, was rescheduled from its annually-held Spring dates due to COVID-19 and will be held virtually. This year’s theme, Activism, Identity, and Race: Playwrights and Screenwriters at the Crossroads, is a new focus for the Conference that boldly affirms and celebrates how the diaspora’s playwrights and screenwriters expand society’s understanding of Black life and the human experience. Forming part of an exciting program of events, anthropologist and interdisciplinary artist Alexis Alleyne-Caputo (Afro Diaries™) will present her short film titled  ‘Colonial Currents: Black Women, Water, Trauma, and Baptism’. 

Further to her previous projects exploring issues affecting black and brown communities, Alexis Alleyne Caputo’s project draws on current pertinent and intersecting issues, underscoring racial injustice, police brutality, climate change, COVID-19, and the global momentum supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.  The short film will be followed by a Q&A, which I have been invited to participate in.

Much reflection is given on how artists, activists, and educators can respond to the conference’s overall theme of activism, identity, and race whilst widening discussion, exploring solutions and disseminating findings beyond the conference’s virtual registrants. The artist who contributed to the project were Andria Thomas, Anasthasia Grand-Pierre, Cheryl Harrell, Desiree Parkman, Kashia Kancey, Maryann A. Payne-Benjamin, M.M.N. Caputo, Na’Talya Elizabeth Duhart, Shawna Watson, Shawnnette Longley (Rimidi), and Yolande Clark-Jackson.

Speaking on the eve of the conference Alexis Alleyne Caputo explains, ”This is a response to the conference theme of  Activism, Identity, and Race: Playwrights and Screenwriters at the Crossroads. The African American experience must be recorded and viewed from a wider lens, understanding similar or shared experiences of black people across the world. Milestones in history, our response, and the narrative of the African diaspora’s story matters. This is best served via the collaboration of literary and visual minds to celebrate our being and shape our future’’.

Other conference highlights include roundtable conversations, panel discussions, a town hall, film screenings, author readings, writing and playwrighting talk shops, a local vendor marketplace, and much more. The four-day virtual gathering brings together students, writers, artists, activists, scholars, literary professionals, theater and film giants, and other literature enthusiasts from near and far. The aim is to explore the challenges, rewards, and impact of working within the Black film and theater industries. Discussions will examine the ways that race, identity, politics, and popular culture shape the production of plays, films, and television shows.

For further information on Alexis Alleyne Caputo please visit https://alexiscaputo.com/

Click here for the program for the day.  For further information and bookings for the 15th National Black Writers Conference (NBWC2020) please visit https://centerforblackliterature.com

The featured image, courtesy of Alexis Alleyne Caputo  features Anasthasia Grand-Pierre (left) and  Maryann A. Benjamin (right)