There is more to the West Indian-American
Day Parade than meets the eye.
There are the talented costume designers who work behind the
scenes, for instance. And there is a fascinating, social and
political history to the Brooklyn parade, which retains its connection
to the Caribbean.
"Prelude to Carnival," a display of costumes and two
photography exhibits, is on view at the Brooklyn Public Library’s
Central Library at Grand Army Plaza, offering the public a chance
to examine the parade’s roots.
[This year’s West Indian-American Day Parade, hosted by the West
Indian-American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA), will be held
on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 1.]
The exhibits at the Central Library include a costume display,
organized by five myles, a Crown Heights art gallery, dramatically
hung over the Grand Lobby. Five myles owner Hanne Tierney and
her assistant Sabrina Adams built dancing forms out of sticks
of wood to display the textiles from the 2002 parade and attached
them to cables.
Like the chorus line of a Las Vegas production, the Central Library’s
show features costumes in brilliant hues of yellow, red, green
and royal blue. There are bikinis, epaulets and headdresses bedecked
with feathers, sequins and animal prints. These are costumes
from three mas (masquerade) bands: Genesis, Seasame Flyers and
United Front.
Hanging from the center of the balcony is a particularly impressive,
14-foot-high black-and-red jacket with African mask-like faces
formed of sequins.
Tierney, who culled these costumes from a collection maintained
by costume designer Randy Brewster, of the WIADCA, told GO Brooklyn
that it was significant that there were any costumes at all to
display.
"A lot this stuff gets thrown out," explained Tierney,
because the costume designers don’t have the storage facilities
necessary to preserve them. "These are the costumes that
haven’t fallen by the wayside."
Last year, the Flatbush branch of the Brooklyn Public Library,
which has a Caribbean Literacy and Cultural Center, stepped in
to save many costumes, said Tierney. Those costumes are now installed
at the branch at Linden Boulevard at Flatbush Avenue and can
be seen year round.
From the source
The two displays of photographs look back to the source of the
annual Labor Day parade, Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago, where
festivities begin approximately three weeks before the Christian
holiday of Ash Wednesday and reach a fevered pitch on the last
Monday and Tuesday.
On the first floor of the Central Library there are cases displaying
Michael Britto’s photographs, "Spirit of Carnival,"
which will be on view only through Sept. 7.
Britto’s photographs capture the whole Carnival experience, from
people lingering at roti trucks, to costumed children and adults.
His photographs capture the high-energy performers in their colorful,
ornate, sparkling costumes – the traditional images associated
with Carnival.
In a statement, the photographer says he has been married to
a "Trini" woman for the last 24 years, and first visited
the Trinidad Carnival in 1989. He returned five more times, shooting
more than 30 rolls of film each year. His goal was "to capture
the energy, vitality and beauty of the masqueraders" and
in that, Britto is more than successful.
In one dense composition, the frame is filled with the masquerader’s
yellow plumage and ornate, American Indian beadwork. The only
visible part of his face is his tightly pressed lips. In contrast,
another photo shows a broadly smiling woman wearing a large,
lime-green, turquoise and purple headdress with her green bikini
and gold lame boots, as if she was a character from an early
"Star Trek" episode.
Britto’s camera is adept at capturing the humanity beneath all
of the manufactured feathers and sequins. In one photo, a man
holds a blood-tipped spear in one hand and a beer in the other.
His gladiator costume, with large faux dagger in his waistband,
is betrayed by his very 20th-century sunglasses.
Britto’s photographs leave you hungering for more information.
What was the theme of these costumes? Who designed them? Who’s
wearing them?
For instance, what’s the story behind Britto’s portrait of a
young boy and girl with quite serious expressions, wearing turn-of-the-century
adult clothing? The boy wears a black top hat and tails with
a white ruffled shirt. The girl, wearing a satin, multi-tiered
gown with pearls, holds a parasol. The couple look as if they
stepped out of Julie Dash’s 1991 film "Daughters of the
Dust."
What the devil!
On the second floor, you can step into Rudy Ferreira’s world
of dancing demons. Ferreira’s digital photographs are saturated
with color, and have been manipulated or punched up to accentuate
his dramatic theme: Ferreira’s photographs document the lesser
known spectacle, "Devils of Paramin," in the mountains
of Paramin, Maraval in Trinidad.
Ferreira, 58, is a native of Trinidad, who grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant
and Crown Heights and now lives across the street from the Central
Library. But Ferreira told GO Brooklyn that he doesn’t even shoot
the Caribbean parade that passes in front of his window each
year.
"I’ve never been intrigued by it," said Ferreira. "I
like to go back to the source for what I do. I go back to that
island and the people – that is what inspires me. This area in
the mountains."
According to Ferreira’s artist statement, on Carnival Monday,
"The Blue Devils take part in the daytime parade of traditional
Carnival in Port of Spain. In the evening, they appear on Paramin
Mountain, painted head-to-toe, wearing fangs, horns, tails, wings
and masks. Spectators assemble as devils pose for photographs
and menace the crowd. They blow whistles and scream in hellish
pain."
Ferreira’s subjects are shot against darkness, blowing enormous
fireballs from their mouths. This is a quite different set of
images than Britto’s shots of gaily adorned masqueraders glittering
under the afternoon sun. Ferreira’s devils are often young boys
caked in blue pigment holding crude pitchforks or tridents –
innocent faces with horns.
"The Devil mas is placed in the category ’old mas,’ because
the costume is rudimentary and crude – from handcrafted items
people in Paramin make for themselves," Ferreira explained.
"I became interested in the colors and the music. They play
a tin pan that is burned in fire and creates an eerie sound –
it’s mesmerizing and trancelike. When I listen to it and see
the players perform, I get the feeling that I’m in hell, but
it’s a pleasant hell because my creativity springs into action."
Ferreira hopes to publish a book about this mountain tradition
and the 50 players he has interviewed and photographed.
"The colors have significance," said Ferreira. "The
blues protect the player from adverse spirituality, the music
and the whole Carnival atmosphere. In [the show], the performers
do and re-enact things they wouldn’t normally do. They fall into
a trance."
"Other players use white – for purification. Whatever colors
they use are a protection for their own mental and spiritual
body."
Although Ferreira wouldn’t reveal the techniques he used to create
these images, he did say that he no longer uses film, only digital
images, which he manipulates on his computer to generate rich,
vibrant compositions – often with painterly brushstrokes in the
background – that emphasize his dramatic, mystical fire-breathing
subjects.
Discover Ferreira’s devils in his first formal exhibition and
whet your appetite for Brooklyn’s own, upcoming carnival.
"Prelude to Carnival: Caribbean
Carnival Costumes and Photographs" is on display through
Sept. 28 at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Library at
Grand Army Plaza. Admission is free. The library is open Tuesdays
through Thursdays, 10 am to 9 pm; Fridays, 10 am to 6 pm; and
Saturdays, 10 am to 6 pm. For more information, call (718) 230-2122
or visit the Web site at www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org.
The exhibit, "Carnival Costumes: Up Close!," at the
Flatbush Branch’s Caribbean Literacy and Cultural Center, 22
Linden Boulevard near Flatbush Avenue, is also on display through
Sept. 28. The library is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays,
noon to 6 pm; Thursdays, 1 pm to 8 pm; and Saturdays, 10 am to
5 pm. For more information, call (718) 856-0813.
