#MyCaribbeanLibrary: pickings of Summer 23'
Here I am, trying again to keep pushing and showing up for something I love to do: writing and sharing my readings. In English, my friend. Which requires a lot more of energy than doing it in my mother tongue (you bet which one?). Sorry, not sorry for labouring the point. That said, I will extend it today: summer — or as we call it at home “grandes vacances”(“big vacations”) has been the occasion to go out and explore other cultural places, aka museums. I started the series “My Caribbean Library” a few months ago. You can read the first piece below, thanks to the link at the end of article. If you wanna grab some reading ideas, I hope this “virtual” extended bookshelf will help you out a bit.
From a non-Caribbean author: “A Year of Yes”, Shonda Rhimes
If I allow myself to infringe the so-called editorial line I’m trying to build in this space, it’s for a very good reason: I’ve never felt so absorbed by a book lately. Of course, writing is what Rhimes makes for a living, but managing successfully to connect with readers is something rare. I can barely imagine the long hours of writing, editing, rewriting it took, but the result is worth it.
All I can say is: give it a shot. You won’t regret it.
Okay, I do it better: it’s a (non) self-help book. I wouldn’t like to insult the author’s intentions here but you might see it that way. Rhimes deals with a lot of subjects everyone (us, women) can identify with, sharing with generosity her personal journey, since she started to say yes. Yes, to more opportunities and to challenges. You have trouble to imagine how as a talented producer, a multiple-award winner, a boss, a mom, she could have said a lot a “no’s” before? Yeah, me too. But I let her delicate and genius sense of storytelling say it better. The outcome of this journey, beautifully told, might give something to chew on.
To spoil a bit: I see competitiveness, leadership, the art of writing, to say the least, from a new lens. And I laughed. A lot!
Please, help yourself, say yes to her book.
A Caribbean descent artist: The Basquiat x Warhol, Painting Four Hands exhibition
I think I’m being unfair with this one: the exhibition is coming to end by the end of August and of course you aren’t all around to go see it. My point here is to explain why it has touched me to the core and what I got out of it. Before starting the following lines, know that it’s a very (very, very) personal angle, which is far from exhaustive. But that’s the point of choosing and standing by an angle, I guess.
First and foremost: I went for Basquiat’s work. Times flies and it’s been years since I learned about his existence and I wanted to see by myself at least a slice of his heritage to this world.
And let me tell you: I’ve been deeply amazed! Well, actually, “appealing” is a more accurate word for what I felt about his work. I’ve learned three things and stuff about him:
- One of the pillars of his inspiration came from a book that he’d been gifted by his mother while he was on a bed hospital: Gray’s Anatomy. I Googled it and you can find more details here. How a book of anatomy, a useful and practical book for physicians, may inspire an artist? The connection was surprising and yet, so obvious. It inspired a part of Basquiat’s signature: little drawings that you can see on the collaborative work realised with Warhol and other artists, also visible during the exhibition. On a side note, I also got what have might inspired Shonda Rhimes for one of my most favorite TV shows: Grey’s Anatomy. I love learning about connections of ideas.
- I knew that Basquiat passed away very early. What I didn’t know is that he had unwillingly flirted with death several times before his actual death. It gave room to my imagination: is that what inspired him to chase his dreams so fiercely? Does knowing and feeling the frailty of life actually made him pursue his dreams and made him ensure that his ideas come to life with more passion and intensity? Because that’s the way I see it: he has lived with intensity. My philosophical (and annoying, let’s keep it real) side kicks in here. I could go on and on with existential questions and interpretations for that matter. For real.
- I realised that despite the fact Basquiat was born and raised in Brooklyn, he still had the “Caribbean experience”. He has lived in Puerto-Rico during a year or two with his dad and his two sisters. Which is a critical part for me. Dear Caribbean fellow readers, if you define yourself as belonging to hyphenated identity people’s “cast”, you might get me. I think that living and tasting for real the Caribbean experience at least once, may change you and affect, influence what you create (in Basquiat’s case. It’s not a digression, I promise). Or not. It’s my personal interpretation and made up idea, after all. What I learned is that her mom was from Puerto Rico, his dad from Haiti. And that he was trilingual — English, French, Spanish — ones of the most spoken languages in the Greater Caribbean). Just saying.
- SO, THERE’S A FOURTH POINT. I just made it in my head. What I keep in mind after seeing that exhibition, is that Basquiat made his own luck with Warhol. I can’t go into the details here because you would need to see the exhibition by yourself. Plus, for legal and ethical matters, I want to respect the work of the team behind this exhibition, intellectual property and stuff. I just come to a conclusion that “fate” does exist BUT helping yourself out is one of the best tools and shortcuts to make it real. (I know that it may sound cheesy or a commonplace, you name it).
See? I didn’t talk about the actual work. I just think that the creation is as important as the creator.
Two Times Removed, for and by Indo Caribbean writers
I will soon devote a piece to that reading. Two Times Removed is a series of anthologies. The two collections of fictional stories have been curated and edited by Tiara Jade Chutkhan, an Indo Caribbean woman born and raised in Canada.
I learned more about Indo Caribbean cultures, the ways that these young Indo Caribbean navigate their identity. It’s fiction, but the way it’s written give you some clues about it is to live with a hyphenated identity.
Well, it feels very personal as I’m mostly from Indo Caribbean descent. These are short stories. If you feel curious and that you enjoy reading, you will like it. I love that the now unquestionable idea “Representation matters” has been completed about we define Caribbean culture. Definitely a significant contribution.
That’s a wrap. If you read this far, I would like to thank you for the interest! And feel free to share your recommendations, written or made by Caribbean creators or not!
You could also check this out:
