‘No Gyal Can Test’ exhibit
Continued from Page 29
graphs and videos entrusted to
Smith over the past decade by
family members, friends and
prominent figures at the heart
of Kingston, Jamaica’s dancehall
community.
Pulling its title from a handwritten
note scrawled on the
back of a photo sent to his
father, Red Bull Arts told Caribbean
Life that the exhibition
“draws upon Smith’s experience
growing up between New York
and Kingston in an attempt
to record a collective memory
that exists at the edges of the
artist’s own.”
In his first solo exhibition,
an homage to the women
who raised him, Red Bull Arts
said Smith presents two video
installations and a series of
large-scale multimedia interventions
Caribbean Life, N 30 ovember 13-19, 2020
formed from salvaged
architectural remnants transplanted
from Kingston.
“Carefully housed within
these vessels like relics, the
archival photographs, videos,
ephemera and period artifacts
coalesce as a lyrical reconstitution
of a social world gone but
not yet forgotten,” Red Bull
Arts said.
Largely absent from institutional
archives, it said documentation
of Jamaica’s popular
movements is still commonly
seen in the eyes of Jamaica’s
socio-economic elite as
“unwanted clutter rather than
treasured national heritage.”
Red Bull Arts said Smith
counters this through the
construction of “monumental
reliquaries, which house these
corroding testaments within
the material landscape of corrugated
zinc, tarp, repurposed
wood and breeze blocks from
which they came.”
“Composed of the marked,
residual traces of a former life,
these structures are also ruin
in reverse, and the possibilities
once envisioned within them
are rejuvenated with renewed
hope,” Red Bull Arts said.
Falling into the abstract
time of memories and dreams,
it said Smith places the viewer
somewhere between “formerly
imagined (and now remembered)
utopias and a distant,
nostalgic future both entropic
and far away.”
Red Bull Arts said this exhibition
would not have been
possible without the trust of
innumerable members of the
dancehall community and
their faith in Smith’s artistic
vision.
A deeply personal journey
that has resulted in soughtafter
spiritual growth, Red Bull
Arts said “No Gyal Can Test” is
“a love letter to not only the
women who raised him but to
the intrepid spirit of the people
of Jamaica and a contribution
to the evolving shadow archives
of the Black experience.
“In the context of our hypermediated,
socially distanced
present, it’s hard to ignore the
illuminations of a past that
speak to the fundamental need
within all of us to gather in
community,” Red Bull Arts
said.
As an insider and outsider
both, it said Smith is in “the
unique position to navigate the
gaps between Jamaican and
American culture, the aspirations
of the era and the realities
of its legacy, and the often-conflicting
roles of the documented
and the documentarian.
“The distinct bonds and
insular language of a community
of color, first seen through
a young person’s eyes, offer the
potential for a lifetime’s work,”
Red Bull Arts said.
Red Bull Arts is located at
220 W, 18th St. in Manhattan.
Continued from Page 29
“Trust” that the new single
and upcoming film are
worth paying attention to.
“To listen to the new single,
you can give it a play
on all streaming platforms,”
said Driven, adding that the
film release date is yet to be
determined.
Akeem Smith’s “No Gyal Can Test” installation at Red Bull Arts New York, 2020. Dario Lasagni.
All artwork courtesy Akeem Smith and Red Bull Arts
and smooth vocals help uplift
the lives of people the world
over,” Driven added.
At the heart of the record,
Kochella delivers an essential
message about true friendship.
“We come together, and we
leave together,” she said, adding
that “there is a sense of
bonding and sisterhood.”
Driven said Kochella “wants
humanity to come together
during times of need.
“This up and coming talent
has words of encouragement
for people worldwide, who are
suffering from the effects of the
coronavirus epidemic physically,
mentally, or emotionally,”
she said.
In terms of engagement,
particularly on social media,
Kochella has cleverly crossed
into the challenge zone by
structuring a contest, the
“Friend Dem” challenge, running
via Instagram, starting
Nov. 18.
Kochella will announce the
contest winner on Christmas
Eve. The winner will receive
$500.
With “Friend Dem,” Driven
said Gabriella hopes to make
the world a better place, “where
people show solidarity in character.
“The now New York-based
talent taps into creating an
anthem for the modern day,”
she said.
Continued from Page 29
Akeem Smith’s “No Gyal Can Test” installation at Red Bull Arts New York. Dario Lasagni.
All artwork courtesy Akeem Smith and Red Bull Arts
Kochella’s ‘Friend Dem’ set for Nov. 18 release
Jennaske
gives her
insight into
trust issues
Jamaican singer Gabriella Kochella. PlaybookMG