Visual artist Annalee Davis is developing a conversational art project called Leh We Talk - Real Conversations on Race and Class in Barbados. The first iteration was hosted in collaboration with Janelle Headley, director of Operation Triple Threat (OTT) on July 18th.
Future conversations will be held throughout 2020. Please complete the Expression of Interest form if you would like to participate in an upcoming session.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Leh We Talk (LWT) aims to build bridges and offer safe spaces for intimate conversations to take place where participants can be vulnerable, honest, genuine, and brave. This is an experiment in conversation as an art form to make us more curious and open and to ultimately foster human connection. While conversations in Barbados have been provoked by the Black Lives Matter movement and George Floyd’s murder, I believe that we need to discuss race and class in our own unique context on this island.
The plantation, White supremacy, and capitalism form the substructure of Barbadian society, and racism and classism are toxic to Black and White Bajans, People of Colour, and mixed-race Barbadians. While many work across racial boundaries, we often retreat to separate social, racial enclaves at the end of the day. Few speak to someone of another race or class about race and class, discussions often happen in small private circles- at the kitchen table, on de block or verandas- and within divided racial and class groupings.
Leh We Talk is seeking out people of all backgrounds interested in participating in broader conversations with people who are different to you about race and class from this context and in our own unique circumstances. This is not a space for shaming others and these conversations are not being performed to a live audience. They are intimate exchanges between two co-discussants.
Leh We Talk is designed for participants to speak about themselves while listening to strangers, hopefully leading to a better understanding of ourselves, others, and the nation. The conversation will be prompted by a menu of questions focussing on race, racism, classism, and race relations. Finding more effective ways to communicate with people who might look, behave, think, or live differently than we do might allow us to see someone else through their life and experiences.
ABOUT THE COLLABORATORS
Annalee Davis has a hybrid practice as a visual artist, cultural instigator, educator, and writer. She works at the intersection of biography and history, focussing on post-plantation economies by engaging with a particular landscape on Barbados. Her studio, located on a working dairy farm, operated historically as a 17thC sugarcane plantation, offering a critical context for her practice by engaging with the residue of the plantation. She has been making and showing her work regionally and internationally since the early nineties. Leh We Talk is an expansion of her 2015 discursive project, White Creole Conversations.
https://annaleedavis.com/work/Whitecreole.htmlOperation Triple Threat (Registered Charity #1160) is dedicated to empowering lives through the performing arts. OTT holistically meets the needs of our beneficiaries through six programmes and services: Performing Arts Training, OTT Scholarships, The Bridge Award Programme, OTT Meals Programme, Social Support Services and our OTT Academic Initiative, and we proudly serve as the base for musical theatre appreciation for young Barbadian artists. If you'd like to make a donation to our organisation you're welcome to do so.
http://operationtriplethreat.com/