J’OUVERT
courtesy of the artist and Dark Mofo Festival
J’OUVERT was a work I first developed and performed for Next Wave Festival. It was funded by Creative Australia. I also performed iterations at ACMI (Naarm / Melbourne) and later, at a season for Dark Mofo, Lutruwita (Tasmania).
As a woman of Trinidadian and St Vincian descent, carnival was an everpresent part of my childhood. Geographically seperated from that culture - I had a yearning to know more about its conception.
J’OUVERT explored the roots of the Caribbean tradition of carnival, mas (masquearade), colonial resistance, folklore and innovation. Named after the annual event - J’Ouvert was held at daybreak on the single annual “day off” for enslaved African workers. They would steal their masters clothing while they were out at Masquerade carnivals, smear themselves in oil so as to avoid recognition, and sneak out to party in the streets. To this day, J’Ouvert is celebrated as a part of the world’s largest street carnivals - Notting Hill Carnival and NYC Carnival.
Over the various adaptions of the work - I worked with a steel pan player, dove into histories of mas’ characters, musical modalities and cross-polination of different ethnic minorities in Trinidad and St Vincent.
In the three presentations of my work - J’OUVERT was a combination of delicate, yet staunch celebration of culture.