Find Yourself: Carnival and Resistance

Timothy Payne

Sir Gerald Price

Joseph Seton

Frank Walter

Situated in a fifteenth-century monastery in the heart of Venice, Antigua and Barbuda’s National Pavilion celebrates Carnival. For this island nation, the development of the religious tradition of Carnival into an act of resistance remains true in today's modern festivals.

With the pageantry of costumes, parades, resolute songs, and dances, Carnival has been the manifestation of defiance from its inception as a slavery and post-abolition phenomenon to the present day.

A carnivalesque world is flexible. Though rooted in faith, it accommodates shifting identities, which leads to introspection. Find Yourself is an exploration of Carnival in Antigua and Barbuda that expands into diverse locations such as Venice, New Orleans, Notting Hill, and Russia. This National Pavilion is a global study of identity through expression or repression of ritual. The international migration of symbols of freedom of expression and treasure highlight the unique history and similarities among people from many continents.

Portraits of Antiguans and Barbudans - a people of unique beauty and power - line the gallery walls to illustrate daily life, weddings, funerals, and Carnival. The photographic exhibition is enlivened by videos of celebrations, rituals, music, calypsos (protest songs), and dances, with towering mannequins clad in modern-day Carnival dress as a contemporary personification of strength.

Resplendent in headdress, jewelry, and textiles, the costumes portray determination and resilience. They honour the small island nation’s resolve to transform art forms. The intangible cultural heritage and collective arts of sculptors, tailors, seamstresses, wire benders, mask makers, mask designers, and seed and bead workers maintain their innate dignity and are reminiscent of their African, European, and American origins.

Forward looking, yet comprehensive in understanding its history, Antigua and Barbuda’s Carnival expresses political will and the sovereignty of a soul, and stands as a microcosm of the world’s vulnerabilities. Woven into the exhibition in its stance against cultural and human exploitation is a message to challenge modern-day slavery and environmental inequality. As these threats are equally dangerous across the globe, visitors are invited to contemplate their respective societies within the Pavilion and to find meaning in their own national forms of cultural expression.