Three artists in residence have been making history at the National Gallery. That is to say they are capturing the history of the Islands in their art and presenting it in new and creative ways for the public to enjoy.
Kerri-Anne Chisholm, Wray Banker and Nasaria Suckoo-Chollette were chosen to participate in the Gallery’s fourth consecutive A Day in the Life two-week residency. The exhibit featuring their works opens to the public at 9am Monday, 5 September.
Weekender stopped by the Gallery to chat with the artists while they were working in their dedicated space, where a relaxed, collegial atmosphere exists and the creative energy is palpable. Here’s some of what they had to say. Be sure and stop by the Gallery to see their finished projects.
Kerri-Anne Chisholm
This showcase, which marks Kerri-Anne’s first professional exhibit, features black-and-white photos of Caymanian elders and presents their stories in their own words.
Nineteen-year-old Kerri-Anne started out doing charcoal sketches because “when you draw someone, it’s an intimate experience – you get to know the detail on their face. With black-and-white photography, you capture the same idea,” she says.
Kerri-Anne spent a good amount of her time interviewing older residents about “our heritage, who we are and where we came from.” Many of them are people she has known all her life, friends of her parents and grandparents.
“They tell me stories I’ve never heard before. It’s kind of like digging for treasure.”
Her recordings of the oral histories will be incorporated in the exhibit, along with the photographs.
Calling on fond memories from her childhood, Kerri-Anne says when she was growing up, every weekend her family would take out all of the old photo albums and old stories would be told and re-told to her complete delight.
Today, photos of family and friends dominate one wall of her studio space.
“These are my inspiration,” she says, as her eyes sweep across the photos.
Wray Banker
Wray, who works with fine crafts, industrial and graphic design, photography and painting, has several diverse pieces in the exhibit, ranging from a titanium version of the Cayman caboose to a mancala “board” made from a tree carved with artful slots to hold the stones.
With a background in drafting, Wray moved on to graphic design, where “you can make up your own rules and you don’t have to worry about building something and then having it fall down,” he jokes. Even with graphic arts and fine arts experience, Wray says he had to carve out his own niche. Earth tones dominate his works, whether in his pop-art, Warhol-esque Ode to Milo or the whimsical games he puts together using different kinds of wood.
“Twenty years ago I didn’t think I’d be doing this realism. I thought I’d be doing more abstract stuff.”
But as evidenced by his crowded sketchbook and all manner of materials scattered about his studio space, Wray’s creative ideas are overflowing.
“I’m trying to illustrate Caymanian aesthetics,” Wray says. “You’ve got to use what you have and still make it pretty.”
Nasaria Suckoo-Chollette
Known to the community as an artist, poet and performer, Nasaria’s residency project is focused on presenting the more traditional Caymanian arts. A key piece is a large frame with 36 panels that will incorporate textiles of varying colours and patterns.
Her pieces will also feature “natural-found items that represent who we are and where we came from.” Items like coconuts, almonds and small bristly pods she calls nikas.
Additionaly, her works will include some bottles of coloured silicone and water with natural elements inside.
“I need a cooling colour [blue] because my personality is fiery,” she says with a smile, as she holds up a prototype of one of the small glass bottles. “I’m not trying to preserve spirits,” as some say this represents, she says, but she does want to perpetuate the spirit of her ancestors.
Beyond that, there is pure enjoyment in her art and in her approach to art.
“I want to get back to the simplicity of childhood, to playing, to pure unstressed art.”
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