Aug 13, 2011

August 13, 2011

I call myself being cute today- I took the bus in the wrong direction…I’m thinking…. I remember this journey…oh yeah…. that is the landmark of the old school house I found the other day…yes…. that’s the spot where I should go get a haircut…hmmmm and there is the place where the African women are speaking in that high staccato voice with reverence the make you think you are listening to a race…

Then it hits me…..I am on the other side of the road….the damn bus is going in the opposite direction of where I need to be……dammit!!!!!!!!.....and I thought I was coolio yo!!!!!....here I am now crossing the street hoping nobody recognizes that I am just going to stand opposite of the spot where I debarked…..silly rabbit….

As I finally approach my dorm, I giggle at myself and chalk it up to one more day of adventure…..that began with a overtrain ride to Brixton…..another ethnically mixed and culturally diverse ‘world’ where the look of the inhabitants remind me regular people moving through the day…they just sound different…..and boy do I mean different…..i am the one with the accent and they do not let me forget it….but I just smile and move on…..I actually have to pronounce thing twice before they understand that I really want to know where the bus stop is located….As I exit the tube station, I encounter various shops and places of commerce. ….the H & M store is on the corner….the PFC chicken joint to my right…(yes….I mean P not K.)……and the bank is to my left…..I cross the street to read the bus sign and am on going the correct direction……as I ride, I notice the beauty of the town….old buildings clearly once the resident of established gentry, roads winding in curves making you a bit dizzy as you hold onto to your coffee……and people dressed in various garb… from the middle eastern ‘salwar kameez, the Ghanaian buba, the Indian sari , the Indian male sherwani and the American demin jacket….sometimes all worn authentically as intended or mixed with an element from the English/European fashion world. The best part was seeing a little boy wearing an Addidas jacket and Nike shoes with his traditional Middle East silhouette of tunic and trousers…

I entered the mas camp of of Sunshine International Arts. The groups Artistic Director, Ray Mahabir is a close friend of Conrads and has agreed to allow me to visit and work. His main role in the company is to design, working along side culturally diverse artists to achieve high quality projects. Thematically based, his project use textiles as a base medium. One project in particular is SIA Youth Carnival Club. This project allows young people to be involved in a carnival arts education projects engaging in different culture and community groups from other parts of the United Kingdom. The focal point of Sunshine International Arts is to use art and craft based activities as teaching tool in education the community youth.

I arrive from the Northeast area of Hackeny to be greeted) by my friend Conrad, Ray and his associates working with the wire frames and sewing. I was swiftly taken to the sewing area once they realized who I was and what my research entails…..I am given a pair of scissors, a box of pins and placed in front of an old Singer sewing machine with a pile of fabric….turning the beautiful ‘silk’ like permanent pleated fabric into voluminous multicolored capes…..an easy enough task……then the next pile arrives and I constructed ‘lace’ chaps ( for lack of a better word)….the silhouette will fan out at the sides as the mas performers parade and take to the streets in this camps version of street performance ( I almost see it a a grand gesture of civil disobedience and reclaiming the streets for their own, in light of the current and daily borage of the media coverage of the past weeks upheaval.) …. I speak briefly to my colleagues of the recent events to be informed of basically the same thing that the papers hold as evidence…the looting and riots were senseless expressions of frustrated and the misguide youth…..and moment of spontaneity turned into violence……a time of being caught up in the ‘rapture’ and not realizing where you are at the moment…..a time of unbridles expressions and behavior……not caring of the consequences for the price that has already been paid is not enough…..the pound is too week to compare to the value of a voice not heard……a voice misunderstood and a voice often times too loud to actually hear…….what is heard is the timber and the dissonance….losing the meaning through the battle of a cacophony too difficult to bear…..

The mas designer is a new colleague, one that I look forward to getting to know….he is from Trinidad and from my brief discussion has worked with Peter Minshell, the carnival designer I visited in 1999 and 2000. He knows many of my colleagues from the island. I am looking forward to interviewing him to understand more of his mission……using the arts as an educational tool …..Manifesting itself in a four year project that culminates to a carnival performance…..his studio is the primary focus where the community comes to build, create and invest in the art/building of the costumes and props……a time for school age children and parents to work together in making their costumes and providing the platform for community development, aesthetic appreciation and a darn good time with soca music in the background. More on his studio later….