Re-Imagining
Professor Roiyah Saltus speaks to Dr Adeola Dewis about Laku Neg, a collective of female, diasporic artists, creatives and activists, and its work with Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales.
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Laku Neg was founded by Dr Adeola Dewis, who has lectured at USW for several years. In 2022, a group of artists linked to Laku Neg were part of a commission by Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales to reframe the legacy of Thomas Picton.
In this commission, Laku Neg was represented by three members of Trinidadian heritage, living and working in the UK, in collaboration with metal artist Cindy Ward. The group promotes expressions of African diaspora knowledge through the arts. Their commission explored a re-presentation of Louisa, Present and Thisbe - young girls and women who became victims of Picton’s brutal regime in Trinidad. Gesiye (pronounced gay-see-yay), a multidisciplinary artist from Trinidad and Tobago was also awarded the museum commission. Here, Professor Roiyah Saltus talks to Adeola Dewis about Laku Neg and its work.
Can you tell us about Laku Neg?
Laku Neg. Laku - 'yard' where, within a Caribbean context creative making, sharing, conversations and dialogues take place. Neg - 'Black' within Haitian Kreyol, the name we call ourselves, a symbol of empowerment and resistance. Laku Neg is an artist-run company for African diaspora people and those interested in the African diaspora. This initiative holds at its core, African diaspora knowledge exchange as a key focus for a reparations agenda. We promote and support the expression of African diaspora knowledge through various forms including: memory, philosophy, food, music, song, dance, performance, carnival, masquerade, ritual, folk cultures, visual arts, writing and storytelling. Our reach is global, with the concept of diaspora aimed at connecting creatives working in different locations including in Wales, the broader UK, North America, The Caribbean, South America, Africa and Asia. We acknowledge challenges of difference across the African diaspora. Within this prism of African diasporic art forms the initiative aims to re-call, re-member, re-build, re-imagine the ways in which we connect, heal and grow. Our vision is simply: to imagine.
What inspired you to take up the invitation by Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales to do the work of re-framing Picton?
The invitation from Amgueddfa Cymru was for Trinidadian artists or those with links to Trinidad. A handful of us involved with Laku Neg are Trini and aware of Picton as the first Governor of our island. The question was asked whether to apply for the commission as individual artists or as Laku Neg. The consensus was as Laku Neg. We were interested in the context of the museum’s call - looking at narratives of celebration around the time of Picton - and not at Picton per say.
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What had you hoped to convey?
We wanted to talk about transformation, honoring ancestors and dreaming. In dreaming this work, we thought about the women. What would Luisa, Present and Thisbe say if they could speak through us?
How could we transform their pain and suffering - scream into song, torture in dance? We wanted to talk about the legacy of that time and its impact on us today. We wanted to celebrate that despite it all, we are still here.
What has it meant to you to do this re-imagining work?
It’s been a great opportunity, the first commission for Laku Neg. We’ve learnt about collaboration - how we work together as artists with different working processes and how we work with spaces like the museums. This commission was an opportunity to do work that we felt mattered. Not having the pressure to name and focus on Picton, we focused on our voices, our hearts, and saw our experience as not only relevant, but crucial to this telling. We did a lot of reading and research. The work also managed to get the attention of activists in Trinidad who are calling on the government to rename streets and replace statues of figures, like Picton and Columbus, that still stand tall in our public squares. This re-imagining work felt necessary and timely.
What are three things institutions like USW could learn from the re-imagining and re-framing of ‘ways of doing, being and seeing’ work you undertook with the Museum?
- Start where you are
- Be curious
- Listen deeply
What one piece of advice can you give those of us at USW who are seeking to take up the challenge to re-frame USW?
Institutes and large organizations are not people. There will be people within these spaces willing to support you and who are excited by your work. Systemic change is a different beast. Start the work closest to your heart and allow spaces for this work to take root. This work becomes a mirror. Keep going. Change will happen.
Of all the possible images, what is the one image you will allow us to share that speaks to our conversation today?
I believe this image captures Mary-Anne's expression of “A tapestry of memory and understanding”. The woven newspaper was the most communal aspect of our work - chosen as a way of utilising a handmade, something-from-nothing Carnival making aesthetic. It encapsulates the time, the work, using what we have.