Jamaican visual artist Jasmine Thomas-Girvan is one of five Caribbean artists included in a groundbreaking art education project, The Transatlantic Slave Trade, launched on Thursday, August 11, across the United Kingdom. Thomas-Girvan’s focus was Mother Africa ‘Beyond Time and Space’ — a celebration of the fecundity of African knowledge systems and imagination.

The Style Observer (SO) caught up with the artist in the middle of a shoot at the National Gallery of Jamaica where her work forms part of the current Biennial.

“I was approached in November 2021 by the artistic director Ashley Scott Adjaye inviting me to be one of five Caribbean artists to be included in this groundbreaking art education project which would be launched in eight cities across the United Kingdom in 2022 . The focus of the project is to transform how we understand the transatlantic slave trade and its impact on all of us. It is a dream project! My work has always been nourished by our history and culture,” she related.

“The subject matter — the transatlantic slave trade — obliges us to critically examine predatory systems that thrived on the slave trade. For some, an examination alone might be enough as we live in a time of form over substance and branding hype feeds the complacency of our society.

“For too long, the history of the transatlantic slave trade has been untold, mistaught or misrepresented. In the UK, the trade’s abolition is celebrated by elegantly sidestepping the monstrous details of the people who were enslaved and their descendants, Britain’s role in the trade’s creation; and the trade’s devastating legacy.

“To bring this discussion into the public the World Reimagined and conceptualised the Sculpture Trail to courageously face our shared history with honesty, empathy and grace. But it is more than a public art project. There are several beautifully nuanced intentions of this project encompassing art, education, community activism and outreach. It is a project that has been carefully planned and equally masterfully executed by a committed community,” Thomas-Girvan continued.

The opportunity included a two-part artist residency — three weeks in the Wysing mostly doing research and planning and three weeks in Cove Park, Scotland where the work was actually done. As part of the residency, Thomas-Girvan was invited to share her experience and practice with the public through an engagement with young people at the Camden Art Centre .The project team also facilitated museum visits and many key interactions with relevant institutions and partners.

Asked by SO just how nervous she was prior to the unveiling, the artist confessed to being “excited, really! The healing resonance of over 100 artistic visions focused on the upliftment of our people is phenomenal!

“The scope of this project is not simply one of optics, though it will be a stunning visual display! It is about reparative justice!

“As the project rolled out it has been inspiring to see justice operationalised beyond accepted universal aims. The project involves a lot of community outreach and to ensure that the work continues beyond this project the fund-raising auction is a truly visionary manoeuvre! These thoughtful strategies make me even more proud to be a part of not so much of a project but of a movement that represents the ancient philosophy of Ubuntu — ensuring that human dignity is at the core of your thoughts, deeds and actions!

The project seeks to recalibrate the accepted narratives about Africa, to lay bare the true history of the slave trade and in so doing liberate all of us into a more generative future.”

And of how she reckons ‘others’ will come to terms with same?

“Honestly, this history is brutal! I think the value is in narrating our own story. The story has been monopolised by those who have benefited and therefore have everything to lose. It’s time for truth telling. The presence of multiple narratives, through numerous voices, makes it easier to enter that zone of reflection. The form of the globe forces the viewer to literally navigate their way around the story. It requires more than accustomed, non-committal viewing; you have to invest some of yourself in the unfolding of the narrative! So it actually creates a space for a reckoning in a benign way! Reparations for me is about repair — The World Reimagined, at its core, is built the belief in the transformative power of art: to inspire, to move and to open our imagination to new possibilities.

“I guess it might also depend on where you stand. I imagine many emotions — guilt, fear, anger, conceit, regret among them, but I feel pride, joy, acceptance, illumination, solace, humility and liberation resonating powerfully.”

Editor’s Note: The four other Caribbean creatives are Ras Akyem Ramsay, from Barbados; Tamika Galanis of The Bahamas; Rodell Warner, from Trinidad and Tobago; and Carol Sorhaindo of Dominica.

The globes will be displayed on the Sculpture Trail across eight cities in the United Kingdom until October when there will be a number of celebratory events culminating in an auction by Bonhams in December, the proceeds of which will fuel an ongoing legacy project of racial justice.

And, what’s next for Jasmin Thomas-Girvan…

“As I do research on my next body of work…whispering breezes from the Pacific are beckoning.”