From South Florida Caribbean News

MIAMI – From April 18 – April 27, 2018, Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator (DVCAI) in collaboration with Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts and traveling with Caribbean scholar Alix Pierre, PhD, contemporary Caribbean artists living in Miami-Dade will return to Kingston, Jamaica to share in an annual International Cultural Exchange.

DVCAI and artists last visited in 2009 and 2012.

Since then we have supported and invited Edna Manley College graduates to visit in our artist in residence program in Miami-Dade County Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, Kingston, Jamaica will co-host and support open informational conversations with artists in Kingston and Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator artists from Miami-Dade with organization of panel discussions and an exhibition at Edna Manley curated by lecturer Carol Campbell, with guest speaker Dr. Alix Pierre, professor at Spelman University, Atlanta Georgia.

The joint exhibition curated by Carol Campbell, offers DVCAI artists and opportunity to work and converse with local artists who are invited to exhibit.

This international cultural exchange conceived by DVCAI founder and president Rosie Gordon-Wallace, is an innovative program supported by Miami-Dade Department of Cultural Affairs. It brings together artists, curators, writers and cultural workers to engage in a rigorous program of exchange, conversations, exhibition, studio visits and workshop intensives with the Caribbean Diaspora artists and beyond.

A highlight of this year’s exchange Voyaging Towards the Future, Living Sculpture 111, will be an examination of public sculptures on the island by the DVCAI artists who will participate in conversations with local artists about Art in Public Places that transform civic spaces and celebrate community.

Jamaica is a leader in Caribbean Art in Public Spaces, which boast the only Sculpture Park in the region at UTECH.

Moderated by Dr. Alix Pierre and Rosie Gordon-Wallace artists from Jamaica and the U.S. are invited to explore and engage multi-media, sculpture, video, photography, painting, installation and performance that explore the issues of creating in Diaspora.

The invited participating artists from Jamaica

Stefan Clarke -sculpture

Katrina Coombs – fiber

Paula Daley- installation

Michael Elliott- painting

Norma Harrack – ceramics*

Margaret McGhie – ceramics*

Michael Layne – ceramics*

Claudette Lopez- Lewis – textile

Mazola Mwashigadi – mixed media

Judith Salmon – printmaker

Philip Supersad – ceramics

Raymond Watson – sculpture

Donette Zacca – photography

Participating artists from Miami

The participating artists from Miami are Rosa Naday Garmendia, Anna Carolyn Meier, Moises Aragon, Jacqueline Gopie, Onajide Shabaka, Asser St Val, Izia Lindsay and documenting photographer Roy Anthony Wallace. These artists, writers, curators and culture makers represent an incredible range of cultural backgrounds, nationalities, homelands and artistic practices.

Rosie Gordon -Wallace describes the exchange as an opportunity “to have a conversation with ourselves about ourselves” and to seek time to look at “our landscape” with radical creative eyes.

The ICE program interprets the ‘ourselves’ in the most expansive way, engaging the concept of “diaspora” as a lens to understand and dialog about the deeply creative and innovative ways that artists approach art making, culture and community in diasporic spaces. “It is easy to work with plenty; the hard thing is to work with little.” Says Joelle Ferly from Guadeloupe.

This cultural exchange is an artist centered initiative and artist driven. We believe in a creative thoughtful dialog, support for local artists, and exhibition of the local artists in dialog with international artists, salons and conversations.

This is a time of sharing and learning to establish an intercultural dialogue and professional development opportunities. We are a strategic platform for international exchange between artists, curators and scholars living and working in Caribbean spaces locally and globally.

Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator is a virtual creative place-making Incubator whose mission is to promote, nurture, and cultivate the diverse talents of emerging artists from the Caribbean and Latin American Diaspora living in Miami- Dade.

Conversations will be held daily with groups of local artists on site, in their studios in formal and informal conversations. We are excited to conduct studio visits and gallery visits with anticipation to experience exhibitions at local galleries, and to experience local theater during the exchange.

Artists will meet at DVCAI central to engage in critical discourse on their practice since our last visit in 2009 and 2012, have conversations and present portfolios, artist to artists, using this opportunity to shape future collaborations in Miami.

All artists are invited to attend the exhibition opening at Edna Manley College on Thursday, April 19 at 6:00pm. There is no charge. Donations are encouraged to Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts.

A diaspora is about the dispersion of a people. Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator looks at the places where our paths cross and intersect, how we sound and who is standing at these points of connection.

We live in a world where new diasporas are ever emerging, where we are continuously called upon to re-invent art, family, geography, culture and where the hybrid voice is what we come to call center and home.

Our artists’ community conversations and artist talks are designated to fulfill our mission of empowering artists, as well as offering key insights, sharing resources and observations into the day-to-day issues that artists are facing, says founder Rosie Gordon-Wallace.

Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator, Inc. has a multi- cultural board of ten volunteer members. We Thank Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, The Miami-Dade County Major and Board of County Commissioners for the support of this international cultural exchange to Kingston, Jamaica in 2018.

IMAGES:
Alix Pierre and Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator Journeys To Jamaica For Caribbean Visual Artists Exchange
Carol Campbell, Rosie Gordon Wallace Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator Journeys To Jamaica For Caribbean Visual Artists Exchange

For more on this story go to: https://sflcn.com/diaspora-vibe-cultural-arts-incubator-journeys-to-jamaica-for-caribbean-visual-artists-exchange/