So late last night my dad accompanied me to lift these three heavy painted black madonnas into place (see map above). I had a difficult time explaining what I was doing as I felt very open and vunerable, I eventually opened up and explained it and he got it, basically it became something I had to do, it was something I felt I had to express in an installation in a public setting. My hope is that as a society we
can recognize the warning signs of a potentially abusive person as well
as recognize the subtle signs of someone being victimized. For us as a society to stop victim blaming and shaming, and to really be our brothers keeper, to really look over and watch out for others children as both boys and girls and women are most times the victims. I am using a
recognizable image that of the Virgin Mary but whereas in the Caribbean
patriarchal society, she is often portrayed white, I have made her
black, going back to her original roots, the first mother. The Madonna
and Christ image was modeled after the Egyptian goddess Isis holding her
son Horus. Perhaps it is that image that explains the numerous black
Madonna's found throughout Europe. That being said I am depicting the first
mother, a symbol of compassion and understanding, someone who can see
you, you the perpetrator, you the victim, you the observer. I want us as a society to recognize the subtle signs many of us miss unless
we have personal experience. I chose the Manor Park area as it is one
area that both classes converge and intersect in passing, with one set
taking buses to that area and a taxi up the hill or walking up the hill
to the various jobs and the other set who drive down the hill to work or
to run their errands in the plaza's below. It turned out that the organizers of One Billion Rising Jamaica (VDAY) were occupying the Manor Park area in the morning as part of their first stop as they headed south, ending at the Institute of Jamaica and, they were wearing red, the colour I chose to paint the garment of the Black Madonna. From the panel discussion today at the Institute of Jamaica there is so much hurt and wrong doing in Jamaica's society, incest, rape of women, girls and boys. It seems there is much hurt that the perpetrators carry, they did not receive nurturing as children, we failed them as a collective society many of these abusers were themselves abused, though too proud to even go there, it is felt that these emasculated boys who were made powerless and dominated at some point in their lives as children grow up to then exert the same domination that was done to them. Sometimes the consequences are sinister and dire. These Black Madonnas, the first mother is a call for us as a society to see and recognize red flags, warning signs and to call out bullshit tales that keep victims silent and to speak up for those unable to do so. Dedicated to friends who lost their way.
Rest in Peace, gone but not forgotten: Liana Simon 34, Nordia Fearon 19, Franciena Johnson 19, Raquel A. 32, Reeva Steenkamp 30, Karen Rainford 34, Latoya Campbell-Thompson 28,
Below is a link to my VDay Jamaica pinterest board. There is a pattern that plays out and which you can become aware of so you know the signs. Destruction always starts attractively packaged as seduction. http://www.pinterest.com/storyandmyth/vday-jamaica/
