For 10 days, fifty-three pieces of my work in progress, ICON, Carnival on canvas, the ShortKnee as Art hung on the walls of the Grenada Arts Council’s new space this year, at 9 Young Street.

The comments left by some of the 500 visitors to the exhibit ranged from ‘Breathtaking! A marvellous expression of our culture’, to ‘Grenada in a new dimension’, to ‘ Macabrem thoughtful, disturbing, fantastic’ to ‘Found the reinterpretation of other artists an amazing and profound artform’, to ‘It sucks’ written across two of the four comments scrolls. Perhaps ICON was not everyone’s cup of tea.

Some people loved the idea of exploring the Grenada ShortKnee outside of carnival. Others thought it was dark, not quite what they envisioned a carnival character to be, especially my Crucified Chantuelle – a ShortKnee doll on a cross with two smaller dolls hanging off on either side, and my Mongoose Gang – depicting two rabid mongoose fighting over a ShortKnee mask, over a ripped representation of the national flag, with a nutmeg cast to one side. Crime Scene 2 (above right) was purchased on sight, and whisked away to Munich.

Then there was the series of paintings, Chantuelle Talks, several of which were part of a larger display at the Grenada Pavilion of the Shanghai Expo 2010, China. Chantuelle Translations is a series of works that I reinterpreted from about 20 international (and quite dead) artists.

Historians, students of various ages, teachers, vendors, bank staff, cruise ship visitors, people off the street walked in and seemed very interested in this aspect of our culture. A Canadian visitor, Anne, recently retired and taking up visual art full time, spent a good portion of her only morning in port in Saint George’s looking at the ShortKnee works, observed an interview I conducted, and a guided tour of the gallery. She said it was the highlight of her short visit to Grenada. We were both thrilled with ourselves that day.

A Gouyave Vecco associate unexpectedly came through, and spent about over and hour with me, adding his understanding to my research as I explained the work I undertook. I invited an elder ShortKnee and friends to see the exhibit, to get an opportunity to interview and for feedback, and he finally came on closing Friday afternoon, for a quick half hour visit that had me wanting to hear more of what he knew about ShortKnee traditions. Both conversations were fascinating…I have more visuals in my mind screaming to come out now.

I am preparing text to cover the exhibit, the comments, behind the scenes, the process and the concept of ICON, and more than likely this exhibit will become a book. ICON was generously assisted by the following organisations and persons connected in some way with the art itself.

Supporters:

The Grenada Arts Council

John Miller, Glenelg Natural Spring Water – Petroglyphs from the Mt Rich/Mt Reuil area 

Damon DuBois, Westerhall Rum Distillery – Bon Accord Estate slave shackles, WRD Museum

Natalie Minors, Bryden & Minors – I used discarded Heineken cans as part of the art

Chris & Lilo, Art Fabrik – handmade original batik fabric in several of my works

Jim Rudin, Yellow Poui Art Gallery – moral support, use of futon and cold beer

John Sylvester Jr – assist with hanging the show
Carlos Electricals – loan and installation of extra lighting

Volunteers: 

Art enthusiasts: Jessica Denton, Ermine Byer

Fellow artists: Tracey Chan, Sandra Russo, Sandra Steinhause, Maryse Faure, Dani Alleyene, , Steve Winsborough and Justin Meztner 

Media coverage:

Tracey Chan, http://www.traceychan.com/2011/03/suelin-low-chew-tung-shortknee-as-art.html

Government Information Service

Grenada Broadcasting Network

Lexan Fletcher, FLOW Grenada

Linda Straker, the Grenada Advocate

Lashley and Shavion, Zeriba Media

Thank You!