Our bodies are apt to be our autobiographies – Frank Gillette Burgess, American artist and art critic.
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| Recycled paper mache |
Since the beginning of human history, people have adorned their bodies with piercings, or with meaningful symbols imprinted or in paint, as an unique way to express beliefs, spiritual journeys or memories and to celebrate that individual’s place in society. It is one of the oldest forms of visual art.
Blue Taboo depicts the human body as canvas for three thou-shalt-nots in our Grenadian society:
Body art – outside of finger rings and rings in the lower part of the earlobes
Exposure of human genitals – outside of the (marital) bedroom and medical arenas
Art and/or persons embodying both masculine and feminine qualities
Blue Taboo is made from pulp paper mache recycled from government offices paper waste, and represents a highly spiritual being that unites both genders, ie a female figure with male genitals. In Greco-Roman art, Hermaphroditus, son of Hermes and Aphrodite, portrayed as a female figure with male genitals, has long symbolised the coming together of men and women in sacred union of marriage.
In earlier Eastern religions, as in First Peoples literature, a person simultaneously housing a masculine spirit and a feminine spirit are shamans, held in high esteem. It is worth noting that in Grenada we do practice and accept a form of this taboo. We name our children in an androgynous or hermaphroditic manner – using part of each parent’s name to create an unique name, oftentimes difficult to pronounce.
Lord only knows what the exact meanings are behind these adhoc compound names which may influence the future actions of the said children, but since earlier Eastern religions and First Peoples beliefs hold persons simultaneously housing a masculine spirit and a feminine spirit in high esteem, as a society we should look to history before pointing fingers.
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| From the Mt Rich boulder |
The papermache surface is painted in blue acrylics, representing indigo, one of the crops introduced by the Arawak peoples from South America. It is adorned with wooden toothpicks, leather thongs, copper wire and broken shell from a species of edible sea snail, known by its Carib name, lambie. The shell, leather and toothpicks represent materials for household and battle tools. Copper was the metal of choice for caracolis, crescent shaped medals awarded for special courage in battle.
Blue Taboo depicts one of the images from Grenada’s Mt Rich petroglyph collection, first documented by archaeological surveyor and British missionary Reverend Thomas Huckerby circa 1907 to 1912 – the largest collation of prehistoric Amerindian rock carving sites ever made in the Lesser Antilles. This image may be a fertility symbol, and is one of many petroglyphs found carved on rocks along rivers and sea coasts, around the island, places where ancestral spirits were thought to live, and where it was possible for two-spirited persons to communicate with them.
Huckerby made artefact collections for George Gustav Heye of the Heye Foundation in New York, including artefacts from Grenada, which became the core of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian, in Washington DC. The Grenada petroglyphs are documented in Huckerby’s book Petroglyphs of Grenada and a Recently Discovered Petroglyph in St. Vincent, published in 1921 by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York.This piece was exhibited at the 2007 Annual Open Exhibition of the Grenada Arts Council, and is currently in a private collection.