I have translated the works of 19 artists on war, migration, desolation and isolation, in particular with reference to works featuring pierrot, harlequin, clown or acrobat figures, precursor to our present day ShortKnee, as part of my Chantuelle Translations series articulating my response to the socially sanctioned slow and painful death of the ShortKnee.
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| ShortKnee the Politician |
In 1857 two costumed men reading the official government gazette instead of enjoying whatever fete they were dressed for inspired artist Thomas Couture to paint Pierrot the Politician.
Since Grenada’s politics has long been debated in rum shops, my interpretation shows two ShortKnee engaged in vigorous conversation tableside in a local rummery. Note the blue painted interior, traditionally used to avert mal jou, or evil eye.
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| ShortKnee Hanged |
Adolphe Willette’s 1894 Pierrot Pendu (Pierrot hanged) shows tragedy from unrequited love. My translation is not so much about the two ShortKnee carcasses displayed in the window, like half cows in a butcher’s stall, nor the brazen carnival grotesque tossing the ShortKnee’s mirrors, ripped from their chests, to the pavement. The real tragedy is in the window sign, Final Sale.
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| ShortKnee and Grenada Dove |
Bernard Lorjou’s Pierrot aux trois oiseaux, (Pierrot and three birds) shows a pierrot holding a cage on a stick with three birds. I have translated this work to read one figure, the ShortKnee, and one bird, the Grenada Dove. Both are endangered.
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| ShortKnee taking his leave |
Gustav Adolf Mossa paints what to me is the most telling of Pierrot imagery. The 1906 Pierrot Takes His Leave, shows a despondent pierrot as the central figure, bleeding from a self inflicted fatal wound, carving knife in hand – taking his leave from the stage of life. My version speaks to the violent background of the ShortKnee mas, as well as cultural wounding brought about by the lack of documentation to broaden this knowledge base.
ShortKnee can be traced back to the spoken word traditions of the West African Chantuelle, oral libraries whose recollections made bearable the suffering of slaves on the plantations of Grenada, fused with French Pierrot elements, and wrapped in six and a half yards of vulgar fabric that is breathtaking in sunlight masquerade. Once a disguise and a way to compromise, the ShortKnee is today, in this artist’s opinion, the most compelling icon of Grenada, and a subject worthy of visual artistic study.