Take this book with you on vacation
‘Notions of Self’ explores Caribbean identity, experience
Caribbean Life, JULY 16-22, 2021 27
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
You’ve always wanted to do
it. You just wanted to go.
You’d hop in a car or van,
no GPS or map, no real itinerary,
no destination in mind.
You’d point your headlights
in some direction and drive
until you got where you felt
like you needed to be. No
timetable, no worries… and
no chance for your ancestors
to do that very thing. So this
summer, honor their wanderlust
by seizing yours, and read
these two similarly-titled new
books…
First, the history: it had
to start somewhere — but
where? You can imagine how
Black mobility was affected by
slavery but how and why did
it continue? Surely, it wasn’t
arbitrary, not just “no, you
can’t travel here,” so how did
restrictions on Black mobility
happen, how did African
Americans fight the system,
and why does it matter
now? In “Traveling Black,”
(Belknap, Harvard University
Press, $35.00), author Mia
Bay answers these questions,
starting back when travel was
largely of the horse-and-wagon
type.
Starting with Plessy v.
Ferguson, Bay explains how
segregation in travel began,
and how it spread along roads
and rails and then spread to
accommodations, and the
uncertainty of what might
await a traveler along the
journey. Bay separates each
mode of travel to examine
how Jim Crow laws affected
a Black traveler in different
manners, and she looks at
the ways in which travel was
sometimes used as activism.
Now, though, you’re free to
travel — not just in the U.S.,
but around the world, if you
want. In “Travelling While
Black” (Hurst, $19.95), author
Nanjala Nyabola shares some
stories of her travels, and how
her skin color matters when
she is on the move.
Indeed, what’s it like to
travel as a Black woman,
when guidebooks are not
written with a Black woman
in mind? How can you draw a
line from African Americans
on the road in the Old Days,
to travel now? And now that
you can travel, what does it
tell you about yourself?
These are just a few things
Nyabola ponders as she takes
readers from Haiti to the Far
East, Mexico, Africa, Europe,
and the American South. She
muses about suffering, the
need for literature in Black
culture, identity, asylum, and
the meaning of home.
This is the kind of book
you’ll want to read when you
want to go somewhere but
you’re stuck at home for whatever
reason. Nyabola goes to
the popular places but she
also travels to spots that are
generally sought by adventurers.
This gives readers a sense
of travelogue with a hint of
the unusual; her musings on
the places she goes make this
a book you won’t want to put
down. Her observations will
make you glad she took you
along with her.
If these don’t quite fit what
you’re looking for, there are
lots of other books you’ll find
at your local library or bookstore.
As always, be sure to
ask your librarian or bookseller
for help; they’re pros at
finding what you’re looking
for. Do it today. Just go.
“Traveling Black: A
Story of Race and Resistance”
by Mia Bay
c.2021, Belknap, Harvard
University Press,
$35.00, 391 pages
“Travelling While
Black: Essays Inspired by
a Life on the Move” by
Nanjala Nyabola
c.2020, Hurst $19.95,
238 pages
Book covers of ‘Traveling Black” and Travelling While Black.” Photo by Terri Schlichenmeyer
By Nelson A. King
TERN Gallery, a new gallery
in Nassau, Bahamas, presents
“Notions of Self,” a multidisciplinary
exhibition presenting
the work of four contemporary
Caribbean artists — Jamaican
Leasho Johnson, and Bahamians
Dominique Knowles, Heino
Schmid and Tessa Whitehead
— on view from June 10 – Aug.
23, 2021.
According to Jodi Minnis,
TERN Gallery manager and
curator of “Notions of Self,” the
exhibit reflects on selfhood and
identity within a neo-colonial
world.
“The works on view reflect
on the commonalities of identification
markers that exist
within the Caribbean, and the
constrictions or possibilities
for expansion that influence
each artists’ creative process,”
Minnis said. “The title also
alludes to the deep and meditative
ephemerality asserted in
the mixed media works, giving
evidence to the highly complex
realities of Caribbean identities.
“The underlying theme
within the work reveals a
sense of multiculturalism that
is present when we think about
Caribbean identity, and how
that doesn’t allow us to be
defined in singular, or fixed
ways,” she added.
“As Caribbean artists, there
is often room to expand, contract,
contort and re-present
ourselves as necessary,” Minnis
continued. “Within ‘Notions
of Self’ there is a sense of confidence
and certainty in this
opportunity where each artist
exists as many things all at
once.”
As a group show, Minnis said
“Notions of Self” plays at both
individuality and multiplicity,
allowing each artist to be all of
who they are at once, sharing
a common thread of courage,
vulnerability and honesty.
“All utilize rudimentary sentiments
of drawing and painting,
blurring the lines between
abstraction and figuration,”
Minnis said. “The ambition of
Schmid’s contour lines in his
figure drawings is contrasted
by the often idiosyncratic
slouchiness of his subjects,
who are broken down to their
most essential beings.”
She said Whitehead’s work
presents a window onto the
wild woman archetype, where
figures merge with their surrounding
landscape.
Knowles represents the generational
evolution of Bahamian
abstract art, following the
groundwork laid by Schmid
and Whitehead, Minnis said.
But, unlike the latter’s work,
where human and landscape
are unified, in Knowles’ work.
it is the human-animal connection
that is emphasized,
Minnis said.
“With brushstrokes that replicate
the action of grooming
a horse, Knowles conjures the
presence of the animal in the
work, while its often-ambitious
scale subsumes the viewer into
his manifested realm,” she
said. Like Knowles, Minnis said
Johnson approaches autobiography
in his work, which
is comprises various media,
“tackling the topic of masculinity
as depicted in Jamaican
pop culture and where the body
is also often consumed within
the landscape that becomes a
safe space for self-expression.”
Minnis said TERN, which
opened its doors in December,
recognizes the need for worldclass
contemporary art spaces
to bring Bahamian artists to
local and global acclaim.
Amanda Coulson and Lauren
Holowesko, together with Minnis,
debuted TERN, creating a
space of opportunity that had
previously been absent in the
often-Eurocentric art world.
“TERN offers a platform
for Bahamian and Caribbean
artists to find international
success, setting pathways for
young and emerging artists
to access careers in the arts
beyond the prior realm of possibility,”
Minnis said.
Installation images of “Notions
of Self.”
Amanda Coulson; Courtesy of TERN