All-female art exhibition highlights femininity, womanhood

Katrina Coombs, Jamaica-based textile artist, has inadvertently staged an all-female art exhibition titled ‘Fiberactive Germination’, which has been warmly received by the nine women artists who have taken hold of the opportunity to showcase their work.

The dominant themes of the exhibition are femininity and womanhood as artists demonstrate their versatility in using the not-so-popular art form and technique of textile art in Jamaica.

As a result, various concerns from a woman’s perspective have been represented. Grief and loss, puberty, acceptance of the black woman’s natural hair and other ongoing issues were depicted in this way.

“As women we can only speak to what we experience,” Coombs told The Gleaner, as the gallery has become a space where different voices relating to identity, insecurities and how women “negotiate themselves” through life are heard and experienced.

CreativSpace, a fairly new, small art gallery, has become a hub for artists and art lovers, catering to those who wish to share their work, create exhibitions and offer workshops.

By reintroducing its versatility to society through active efforts of hosting more exhibitions, Winston Campbell, assistant curator, has hinted the start of a continued effort in highlighting women artists which will debut early 2022.

Upcoming textile artist Danaree Greaves shared her struggle of finding and accepting herself through her artwork. Her piece titled ‘I give myself permission to be free’ explains, from the perspective of a much younger and inexperienced Greaves, the process of maturation.

CAREER PATH

Pouring every ounce of remembrances of past experiences she had, which she confessed to only recently starting to overcome, Greaves’ piece focuses on the struggle of transitioning into adolescence because of the high expectations of parents and the imposition of a career path on their children. This is so as “before you are even born, people have a role that they want you to play”, she argued.

She hopes that with such a relatable topic, other young people and aspiring artists in Jamaica who are subjected to the stigmatisation of pursuing a career in the arts will not give up on their dreams.

She reaffirms, however, that she has no intention of squandering the talent that God has bestowed upon her.

Similarly, Susan Reuben imparts words of encouragement to young and aspiring artists to “go for it”, as “it’s not gonna be an easy road”, she said.

Reuben’s pieces focused on the degradation and underappreciation of the black woman’s hair. In her play on word composition “hair roots, hear roots, here roots, heir roots”, she invites her audience to join in the celebration of the thick, coiled, and sometimes coarse Afros that society has told them are not beautiful enough to wear in public places, schools and offices.

“We were criticised that it too short, it ugly, it too tough and all of that when really we had not been introduced to proper hair care for our type of hair,” said Reuben, urging women not to get caught up in trying to conform into the Eurocentric aesthetic.

CELEBRATION OF LIFE

Meanwhile, in the celebration of life also comes death, and Margaret Stanley, a textile artist, educated in the United Kingdom, the place where she met the love of her life, has also faced the loss of a loved one.

Work that was once gleeful, with bright colours and large in depiction, has scaled down since the death of her husband Michael Stanley back in December 2019.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, several families have experienced death also, and confronting the difficulties of the pandemic without his warming presence has made it nearly impossible for Stanley to truly mourn his death.

Her pieces, ‘2021, 2021’ and ‘Floating’, represent the broken heart that many others have faced as they have also lost loved ones as a result of the pandemic.

“We shared a lot, we were a team and it was very traumatic for me ... and then the pandemic came and I was in the pandemic on my own without him,” she added.

Among other issues covered, the women of the exhibition expressed their viewpoints on how the art profession in Jamaica has become a gendered battleground, with women not being as appreciated and acknowledged in the same way that men are.

Coombs, who has been both locally and internationally recognised, agreed that there has always been a gendered battle throughout the years, but, she said, is not as aggressive locally as it is internationally. Nonetheless, the concerns have remained and have intensified for women who have chosen to use fibre as their art medium as “it is not a medium that people are necessarily drawn to”, said Coombs.

Ammoy Smith, an artist who confronts the issues of recycling and sustainability through her art, believes that female artists in Jamaica are not as well known as men. She added that this is the first exhibition since her four-year art career that she has seen catered to female artists solely.

She wishes for more exhibitions to be held to highlight women artists.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com