Tuesday, February 4 2025
Page 2 returns to Locale in St Andrew for the Crafted Kinship book signing, held on Saturday, February 1. Author Malene Barnett, an award-winning American multidisciplinary artist and textile surface designer, was not only proud of honouring Caribbean culture through ceramic and textile designs, but said it was also important to show the region’s boundless creativity.
“What I thought was: what would it be like to be in conversation with all of these makers who are also thinking about the Caribbean from the [perspective] of unravelling our colonial history, looking at our African origin stories, thinking about identity and materiality? What I think they should see is the multifaceted ways of our [creations], and I want them to also see that there is no hierarchy between the medium and the discipline,” Barnett said. “There is a reason why you will see art design and craft all in one space because part of the work, for me, as well as the makers, is how we blur those lines and break ourselves from these socio-Western constructs. As black people of the diaspora, we make based on what we need, and the way we choose varies each day.”
Here are more highlights from the event.
Photographer: Garfield Robinson