Maroons Project
The Maroons Project took place in Roseau Dominica on October 10th,
2019. Dominica has no art school, so most of the artist are self
taught and mostly painters. I thought that in order to do a video
installation we should learn about similar art practices so we spent 6
weeks in what we called the Maroon Video Lab: studying and
experimenting with contemporary art practices, specially conceptual,
political and critical perspectives. We also had two lectures one by
Dr. Lennox Honychurch, historian and author of the book “In the
Forests of Freedoms” about the Maroons of Dominica and another one by
Dr. Schyuler Esprit, a professor and scholar of Caribbean Literature
(both Dominicans) about the Caribbean Identity and the Maroons of
Dominica as a Heterotopia of the Future. We tried to apply “Maroon
Practices" in the process of making the artwork and “Koudmen” (which
means "sharing", "lending a hand”, “together as one" in Kweyol) We
worked as a collective where no one piece is signed by one artist and
created 10 short video artworks that rewrote the history of the
Maroons on the Building were the enslaved africans were first stored
and then sold on the island of Dominica. The building is falling apart
but is the last one of its kind in the whole Caribbean and a mini
replica of the “Castles” for similar use in West Africa, more
specifically the one in Elmina, Ghana.
The video installation on itself consisted on 8 projectors
simultaneously playing 8 of the 10 works. All the pieces were in 4
minutes loops and each four minutes the piece will change “location"
and be projected on another space of the facade of the Old Barracoon
Building. There was a drumming group from the village of Paix Bouche
during the first hour of the event, and for the second hour the public
was invited to join a drumming teacher in an open drum circle.
Press Release
The Maroons Project was a video installation to provide a poetic rendition of the legacy of The Maroons of Dominica. This One Night Event of Video Projection and Open Drum Circle was presented on the walls of the Old Barracoon Building in Roseaunal on October the 10th 2019 at 7 pm. The entrance was free.
The video art pieces were the product of six weeks of research, study and experimentation by artists from the Waitukubuli Artist Association. The curatorial research and experimentation was directed by Sandra Vivas, the historical context was provided by Dr. Lennox Honychurch and the themes of Maroon Identity and Caribbean Futurism were explored by Dr. Schuyler Esprit.
The fundamental idea for the creation of the Maroons project was the process of critical study on “De-colonization” and producing a body of work that explored the Maroon history both in the past and in the present.
This event was possible thanks to the Cultural Division and Create Caribbean as well as Alliance Française de la Dominique, Archipelago Trading Ltd, Astaphan, Burton, Commonwealth of Dominica Police Force, DEXIA, DCP Successors, DOMLEC, Fisheries, Flow, Fort Young Hotel, Kempinsky Hotel, Mayor of Roseau, Papillote Press, Secret Bay, University of West Indies and many friends and benefactors of the arts who wish to remain anonymous.