My ongoing project, Florida Burial Shrines, as part of a larger conference, The Global Caribbean at the Univ. of Miami, and Little Haiti Cultural Center.
The Global Caribbean Symposium Program began with an immersive topic “Intersecting Geographies: Sexing the Subject and the Nation State”. The panel was kicked off with a tough to-the-point reading by Sheri-Marie Harrison discussing, to put it simply, sexual exploits. The pace did not diffuse as a number of papers were presented representing diverse and eclectic experience-including an intriguing dialogue about the portrayal of the transvestite in Santos-Febres novel “Sirena Selena vestida de pena” by Diane M Grullon from the Department of Modern Languages at the Florida International University.
A second panel begins moderated by charismatic Miami gallerist Rosie Gordon Wallace featuring a distinguished panel of speakers of which Onajide Shabaka conducted an fascinating discussion on the presence of African American cemeteries and associated iconography-including radios, sea shells, crosses–some of which came from the last object the person was in contact with before passing within and outside of the Caribbean. The panel is continued by Selina Roman who talks about her duality as a ‘white person’ and a Puerto Rican person—who grew up not speaking Spanish—and how this connects to her perception of identity in her work.
The day ended with a treat…two powerful readings by respective authors Patricia Powell and Marion Bethel, which was a taste of what is to come at a formal talk featuring the two readers scheduled later during the conference at Books and Books in Coral Gables. <via: http://www.creativecaribbeannetwork.com>
COMMENT – Re: PUMA.CREATIVE AT THE GLOBAL CARIBBEAN SYMPOSIUM, MIAMI, U.S.A
As a participant I really enjoyed my co-panelists Onajide Shabaka and Selina Roman’s presentation and their contribution to the conversation on Pan-Caribbean and Pan-African art. Our papers on Francophone Caribbean visual arts (me), the practice of photography from a female Puertorican/American (Selina) perspective, and African American burial practices in the South of the US couldn’t be more diasporic in their approach. Rosie Gordon-Wallace did an amazing job as a moderator bringing in her experience as an art gallery director and a Jamaican living in the US. The exchange with the audience was equally stimulating. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Drs. Saunders and Pouchet Paquet and their hard working assistants for putting together a quality event. I salute Puma’s initiative in supporting the dissemination of Caribbean culture and arts.
