Paula Lindo – Our histories, stories, present, future.

In commemoration of International Women’s Day 2017 on March 8, the Women in Art Organization of T&T will execute a socially engaged art initiative and action titled the Women’s Cable Project.

The project will be carried out in conjunction with Mary Bourne, Director of the Board of arts organization Deveron Projects, based in Scotland.

In a release, the Organization said “the Women’s Cable Project offers local female art practitioners the space to creatively confront and voice their hopes and fears, in the context of domestic violence and controversy regarding recent statements by T&T’s Prime Minister, who publicly expressed his views on gender-based brutality. The project envisions each woman’s thoughts and feelings as a thread or strand in an urgent conversation. These strands create a powerful cable image when wound together, demonstrating that a combined strength is more than the sum of the parts. The title of this project references short cable messages (telegrams), which were once sent in times of crisis. What messages would the women of Trinidad and Tobago like to send to the world?”
Bourne said she carried out a similar project titled a “River of Words” in Scotland, which allowed individual members of the community to share their thoughts and feelings about their place. The phrases came together to create a flowing river. She said it was empowering for the members of the community as “it enabled many people of all kinds to say something personal in a public place, as it is located in a local community centre and secondary school. They can show their words to their family and friends. It is a way of saying “here I am, I am part of this”, of emphasising the value of an individual within a community of people, and of expressing the strength that comes from people acting together.”
Bourne said when she was approached by Dr. Marsha Pearce, Cultural Studies Lecturer at UWI St. Augustine about doing a project on women’s issues in T&T, she wondered if the idea could be adapted. “It seemed that for a discussion about women’s experiences perhaps a cable would be apt; a cable is both something of great strength built up from many individual strands and a short, urgent text message.” She said each woman will be invited to make a strand of their own and it will be a place where they can write their own urgent message to the world. The project will remain in T&T and can be added to by others in the future.
While in T&T, Bourne will also participate in a talk at the Medulla Art Gallery titled “From the White Cube to Society: Art and Social Consequence – A 50/50 Approach” with Dr. Pearce. This talk is the launch of a bi-annual series of conversations about art in T&T, known as Articulate Caribbean. The talk will be based on the work which Deveron Projects does in Scotland, which focuses on a 50/50 approach in their approach to art.
Bourne explains that “50/50 is a tool we use in planning and delivering our work in the small rural town of Huntly. It is a way of checking we keep a balance in our work. For example our projects are planned to benefit the artist and community in equal measures; we balance what we ask from artists with what we give to them. We also balance a local outlook with a global outlook, ideals with realism and home with away. There are many areas to which we apply the 50/50 check: others include, new/old, contemporary/heritage, hospitality/criticality, able/not able. It is a way of making sure we are as inclusive as we can be, and that we don’t get “stuck” with a single viewpoint.”
This is Bourne’s first time in Trinidad and she said it is affirming that these projects have struck a chord in a place as far away as T&T. “I’m looking forward to hearing about people’s experiences in Trinidad and to seeing how much we have in common and what we can learn from each other.”
The Women’s Cable Project will take place at Art 6 Gallery in St. Clair on March 8 at 6:30 pm. For more information on the Women’s Cable Project, find Women’s Cable Project With UK artist Mary Bourne on Facebook.