Caymanian visual artists Nasaria Suckoo Chollette and her husband Randy Chollette were among 593 artists from 60 countries displaying artwork in Times Square, New York City, this month.
This was part of the 10th anniversary of Expo Metro, a hub which “unites thousands of artists from around the world within giant Collective Artworks”, according to its website.
More than 700 pieces of artwork were presented during a live collective art experience at the ‘Crossroads of the World’, on 1-2 Dec., on a giant 20×50 feet digital billboard located above the iconic I Love NY gift store.
“We wanted to make sure Cayman was there front and centre,” Suckoo Chollette told the Compass. “There were other iterations of this same concept in terms of a public exhibition in New York and other cities. One was done where art was displayed all over subway walls.”
She displayed ‘Carnival Duppy VII – Alice in the Islands of the Blessed (2022)’, a 22×36 inch acrylic painting, which included puff paint, ink and collage on wood panel. A description of her piece noted “exuberantly adorned and rendered in bright colours, this larger body of related paintings employ an assortment of textural and collaged elements to evoke the mythical figure of the ‘carnival duppy’, a character who reappears in different guises throughout the series”.
Suckoo Chollette also used the artwork to “tease out issues of mental health and, in some cases, the struggle of these individuals she depicts to overcome emotional challenges and physical disabilities”.
Chollette’s 24×36 inch artwork, ‘High Interest (2019)’, was oil on stretched canvas. “This work seeks to incite conversations about value; what we value, how we value, why we value. It also brings to bear the historical practice of paying off the oppressor for the loss of their ‘free’ labour – paying them for committing crimes against humanity – and allowing them to build generational wealth, then demeaning the oppressed for their failures to be equally successful.”
Suckoo Chollette told the Compass, “It’s been really fun. I always wanted to be on Broadway, so now I am. What was special is that my work got chosen to be in the promo for the event, which is quite an accomplishment.”
She added, “Randy and I are both very proud and we got to see how our work compares to our peers worldwide. Both pieces stood out.”
According to Expo Metro, the collective artworks were displayed on a “digital screen powered by the most innovative LED technology… producing the highest resolution, brightness and colour in the heart of Times Square’s Bowtie”.
The unique artworks were presented for five minutes each, within each 30-minute slot, with all artists names on display, targeting “high-volume pedestrian crowds, that flow through the area, commuters going from one of the busiest transit stations on the planet”.
Other represented countries included Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, China, Dominican Republic, France, Guyana, Puerto Rico, South Africa, United Kingdom, and the United States.
The two-day event also featured day/night artists and media meet-ups.
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