Broadcast live from David Dale Gallery, Glasgow, 19 July 2014
International Artist Initiated: Fresh Milk
Fresh Milk’s contribution to IAI is in two parts. The first sees the installation of works by three emerging artists on a billboard, on railings and on the surface of the pavement. The artists include a recent graduate from the Barbados Community College, Ronald Williams, whose crisp digital montages critique the stereotype of the black athlete and are installed on an extended billboard, while Mark King’s temporal, geometric, site specific work is installed on the pavement. Alberta Whittle’s fête posters show the artist masquerading as both man and woman in her critique of gender stereotypes, through her engagement with the local fête posters often seen posted throughout Bridgetown, Barbados’ capital city. The posters are reproduced in multiplies and plastered throughout surrounding streets.
Fresh Milk’s second contribution is a discursive project called ‘Notions of common/wealth versus single/wealth’. This dialogical component provides a platform for representatives of the six invited networks to participate in conversations with each other and the Glaswegian audience. The aim of the conversations will, in part, be to unpack ideas related to the Commonwealth of Nations – the association under which countries gather every four years to celebrate sport, the XX edition taking place in Glasgow in the summer of 2014. The intention is to explore the context of IAI, as a gathering of Commonwealth Nations, and delve into how that relates to the work we all do as artist led initiatives. The concern is to unpack the Commonwealth as a macro, historical entity and understand our relationship to it, if any, and all that entails. Interrelated are ideas about the definition of wealth and value, both single and common, in our local contexts.
The Fresh Milk Art Platform Inc. is a Caribbean non-profit, artist-led, inter-disciplinary organisation that supports creatives and promotes wise social, economic, and environmental stewardship through creative engagement with society and by cultivating excellence in the arts. Critical. Creative. Fresh.
