Banging the drum

Online research project accompanying the interactive exhibition investigating the intersections and ongoing relationships between labour rights in the Caribbean and its diaspora, the enduring impacts of colonization, and the current labour landscape for people of Caribbean descent. Exhibition essay by Tamara Jones.

This project is dedicated to increasing awareness of the historical context of forced labour, of contemporary labour injustices, and of deforestation in the Caribbean. “When Did You Wake Up And Realize It’s All A Game?” showcases a variety of mediums through which Caribbean artists, leaders, and organizers express radical protest in response to exploitation and oppression. The project underscores the narratives’ significance beyond a mere quote or image.

Explore the research project online: bangingthedrum.work 

Click and scroll to explore the “When Did You Wake Up And Realize It’s All A Game?” website.

Julianna A.S is an Afro-Caribbean woman working at the intersection of art and scientific research. Her work reimagines the practice of art making and uses woodwork, photography and curriculum-based interventions to explore intuitive cognition, physics, and cultural imprint. Through her work, she invites viewers to question and engage with the intricate connections between art, science, and the human experience.

Tamara Jones is an arts worker based in Tkaronto (Toronto) and Yelamu (San Francisco) whose research and site-specific video performance art practice uses experimental docu-fiction and sculpture to explore bureaucratic architecture, play, and the politics of public space. Their most recent work, This is a Crisis, exploits public audio and space to offer a critical commentary on navigating procedural obstacles, and the surveillance and criminalization of poverty. Their artistic work has been programmed by the Black Experimental Film Festival, Artspace Gallery, Pleasure Dome, and Images Festival. Their writing — documenting social movements and the cultural sector — has been published by The Local, Spring Magazine, The Globe and Mail, and a handful of independent zines.

Whippersnapper Gallery is an artist-run centre committed to the cultivation of inclusive spaces for emerging visual and media arts, community arts, and experimental forms of exhibition making. We provide artists and cultural producers with a flexible platform and exhibition space to expand the parameters of their professional practice. Whippersnapper is structured to encourage peer-to-peer mentorship and promote success by the artists’ own standards. Through critical and diverse programming, Whippersnapper initiates new relationships and unexpected conversations. 

The Caribbean Solidarity Network (CSN) is an organization committed to the principles of Caribbean Liberation and Unity across the region as well as throughout the Diaspora. CSN’s platform is one rooted in a feminist, anti-imperialist, anti-colonial struggle. The history of the Caribbean peoples has always been one of freedom and self-determination. CSN offers space for the Caribbean community and invested allies to foment ideas and build collective knowledge and understanding about present and local circumstances.

This project was developed through Mayworks’ Labour Arts Catalyst in collaboration with Caribbean Solidarity Network.