Gina Rey ForresT: Telling it like it is

POET and freelance photographer, Gina Rey Forrest, has no qualms about speaking her mind, something she has done through the three books she has published over the past seven years. Being the headstrong person that she is, she is also not averse to taking the harsh criticisms that come whenever her books hit the stores either.

The 43-year-old – who is commonly called “chef” by family members and close friends owing to her expertise in the kitchen – started writing from age 10, but she did not publish her first book, Hot Sweet Chocolate until 2001. Through the 30 poems in this book, she documents the stages of a relationship between a couple, from the initial meeting to when they grow old or separate.

Pretty soon after this book, Forrest’s name became synonymous with sensuality and unfortunately many persons expected her to continue along this trend, even after she chose to concentrate on writing about more serious issues in Interlude (volume 1), her second book. But as the poet puts it, “I have never been known for doing things that people are comfortable with”, and she quickly went about remedying this misconception.

Based on her reviews, she decided to go to the other extreme in her next book No Lube: Telling it like it is, this time looking at the trauma faced by young girls who have been exposed to sex too early, and the harsh realities of children who become victims of sexual predators.

The reason for the book, she says, was twofold. Firstly, to express her anger at the prevalence of sexual abuse in the country, and secondly, to break the general belief that she was a sex poet.

“It was written in retaliation to all those persons who wanted to put me in a box as a sex poet,” she says. “I say okay, sex you want, sex you going to get, but not in the way that you like, so I started writing abuse in all type of forms.”

She says by doing so, she was forced to open up her life to the public and to discuss her own experience as someone who was raped on two separate occasions, by two different men.

Her aim then was not to become the poster child for abuse, but instead to deliver a message of positivity to those who are hurting because of a terrible ordeal which she believes is becoming far too prevalent in Jamaica.

It is for this reason that she spoke about her own experience and suggested solutions to deal with sexual predators when she went before the Joint Select Committee during the drafting of the Offences Against the Persons Act in Parliament last year.

One of the spin-offs from her abuse was an addiction to pornography which she was finally able to get over just three years ago through the prayers of friends and family, counselling and self-recrimination. So it’s quite easy to understand why her biggest pet peeve right now is seeing women degrade themselves, especially at dances.

“I think the women in this country need to make the decision that they are more than just their bodies,” she says.

In addition to her love for being on stage and giving voice to the things she sees happening around her, Forrest also enjoys capturing the environment through her lens. For her, it is much more than a hobby, it is her livelihood.

Forrest mostly specialises in food photography and has over the years done work for restaurants such as Susie’s Bakery, where she took the photos which were on display during Kingston Restaurant Week last November. She is also a wedding photographer and maintains an online gallery where she updates nude torsos of mostly women who want to celebrate their bodies.

Susie Hanna, proprietor of Susie’s Bakery and a friend of Forrest for about 10 years now, describes her as someone who is always willing to try new things and capture things with her lens that are out of the ordinary. She believes she is a gifted photographer.

“She speaks her mind in a good way. She is also very creative and so whenever I suggest something to her she is always able to suggest other ways to make it look better,” Hanna says.

Forrest’s greatest passion right now is to promote poetry as a mainstream entertainment, as she believes it has not gotten the reception that it deserves within the industry.

She believes part of the general problem is that some poets do not take their craft to the business level, and sometimes tend to be mediocre in their profession. She says she tries to set very high standards, first by performing to the best of her ability and requiring those who work with her to do the same.

Poet Clement Hamilton, who hosts a weekly poetry show featuring some of the top poets in Jamaica, says Forrest has become a well-respected poet over the years due to her diligence. Like Hanna, he believes she is gifted at what she does.

“She writes about whatever she feels. When she writes, it is about something personal and it always makes a statement regardless of the type of poetry, even when she is doing comedy,” he says.

And Forrest, through her work, has gone beyond just being an entertainer to an advocate for human rights.

“I suddenly have found myself, probably because I just can’t keep my mouth shut, as an activists for woman’s right and those of children. I just speak my mind, I just tell it like it is,” she says.

Forrest is already looking forward to putting her pen to paper for another book. She is not quite sure what she’ll be zooming in on next, but one thing is for sure, it will have people talking as she just tells it like it is.