On August 31, 2007 the Brooklyn Museum will open a major multi-media exhibition of works by forty-five emerging and established artists of the modern Caribbean Diaspora. Associate Curator for Exhibitions, Tumelo Mosaka, discusses the exhibition and its place in Brooklyn—home to one of the largest Caribbean communities in the United States.
Nicole J. Caruth: How did your ideas for the exhibition Infinite Island come about?
Tumelo Mosaka: Well, I think it came out of engaging people in discussions about what the Caribbean is. After several months of trying to get a grip on how people understood the
Caribbean, I got the sense that there was no specific definition. Looking at the geography itself, it’s really this fragmented space, a space which has a very varied history. In thinking about this history, I felt that maybe the approach was not to really define the Caribbean, but rather to present an idea that would metaphorically represent this very disparate and fragmented place.
NC: When you say that you were talking to “people” were you talking to artists or scholars?
TM: I was talking to scholars mainly and it was kind of interesting, because there was a sense that they wanted to define the Caribbean (concretely). But at the same time, I think, there exists a contradiction in trying to define it. So I think there’s this struggle, based on one’s perspective and interests, in how the Caribbean is perceived. With the artists it was very interesting, because from the get-go there was a clear understanding that the Caribbean wasn’t something that could be wholly defined, but rather something that was always moving. That movement was the most interesting aspect. That’s what really got me to thinking about ideas of travel, migration, and diaspora, and how those ideas play out within this region.
Marcel Pinas (b.Suriname 1971)
Kuku (Kitchen), 2005
Plastic plates, aluminum spoons, cups, wood shelves and grass
59" x 59" x 8 5/8"
That movement was the most interesting aspect. That’s what really got me to thinking about ideas of travel, migration, and diaspora, and how those ideas play out within this region.
TM: Yes. Because the Caribbean mainly consists of the islands, I think these notions of confinement or containment are emphasized and that sense of romanticism is definitely played out within the tourist industry. I was interested in how this is such a small facet of what the Caribbean is about. In the exhibition, I was trying to de-mystify that by working with artists who were challenging those notions. So for me it’s about the idea of containment and yet the embodiment of the cultural experience which expands way beyond the physical place. It is this paradox which exists that made me feel that the notion of “Infinite Island” really embodied something that is constantly at play within
the islands.
As a result, I liked and (adapted) Gerardo Mosquera’s title for his essay “The Infinite Island: Introduction to New Cuban Art”, which was based on what he uncovered from historical records about Columbus’ arrival in the Caribbean and his desire for the treasures that were so-called in the Indies, spice and gold. The idea that Columbus had arrived in Cuba and on a continent, is kind of a contradiction and this fantasy of a place; to have this idea that this had to be the destination he’d been looking for, only to discover much later that it wasn’t anywhere close to where he thought. It’s like being moved physically and psychologically in terms of your perception about a place, when you find that it’s something totally different.
Christopher Cozier (Trinidad, b. 1959)
The Castaway, from the Tropical Night series, 2006-present
Mixed media on paper, 9" x 7"
Courtesy of the artist
