The Work of Jasmine Thomas-Girvan seen through the lens of Magical Realism
by Annalee Davis
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2012
On May 25th Holly Bynoe and Nadia Huggins of ARC magazine in collaboration with Medulla Art Gallery presented a panel of five women who were invited to speak about Jasmine Thomas-Girvan’s work. The panel included Melanie Archer, editor of Robert & Christopher Publishers and art director of the trinidad+tobago film festival; Gabrielle Hezekiah, Lecturer in Cultural Studies at UWI, St. Augustine; Sharon Millar, Trinidadian writer; Marsha Pearce, scholar, artist and PhD candidate at UWI, St. Augustine and myself. We were asked to respond to the December 2011 solo exhibition at the Y Gallery – ‘Gardening in the Tropics’ by Jasmine Thomas-Girvan – Trinidadian based, Jamaican metal smith and sculptor.
What follows is an edited version of the paper I presented in Port-of-Spain.
Jasmine and I met in 2000 while I was living in Trinidad. In 2001 we were roommates at the artists’ residency – ‘Big River II’ – on the north coast of Trinidad. It was there that I became aware of Jasmine’s working process – a self proclaimed hunter and gatherer of commonplace materials often found in the natural world and transformed into things of beauty and grace.
Visiting Jasmine’s studio weeks before the exhibition, I felt temporarily suspended in this sacred space, one that required me to be silent, or at the very least, speak softly in the presence of her works. They demanded that I be quiet while observing the rituals they performed and continued to perform in my mind.
My interest here is to respond to Jasmine’s work formally – by looking at some of its technical concerns; conceptually, by examining the ideas manifest in the work, and lastly, to the wider social context suggested by the work. I will do this by referring to the ways in which Jasmine binds varied materials together, connects the logical, linear plane with the supernatural; and links the human interior space with exterior realities. Her joining of the human physical body with animal or plant matter, while connecting literary and visual genres support her telling a story of human struggle and personal transformation. It’s these varied and layered combinations that situate the work within the genre of magical realism, reinforcing multiple planes of existence at every level.
I have been quietly observing a transition taking place for years in Jasmine’s work – a shift from making utilitarian objects that adorn the body to sculptural objects that entice the mind and the spirit. Take ‘Amazonia’ for example. This sculptural work of a woman with an elaborate hair style – cane row braids become a bird on the top of her head – naked baby on hip, red cord tied to her wrist joins her to a two-legged winged animal who in turn is attached to a gourd on wheels. Looking at ‘Amazonia’ caused me to stop for a few moments, perched on the brink of this magical world – both familiar and strange.
Technical concerns
Jasmine combines ancient techniques of casting objects in silver and bronze with elements found in Caribbean forests including polished coconut, cow horn, seeds, red coral, charred wood, palm spathes, gourds, calabashes etc. These items may not be considered as valuable but are elevated by and transformed through her work – a common stone from a river wrapped in a red ribbon and attached to a bronze figure grounds the figure to the earth. Jasmine demonstrates an innate capacity to collect, absorb, and arrange diverse materials into technically proficient, awe inspiring, transcendental works; carefully forming objects of such beauty and intrigue that allow viewers to linger over the surfaces, and temporarily, gratefully, feel suspended.
The combining of the logical with the supernatural
Jasmine grew up in Kingston, Jamaica in the urban centre of the capital city. The annex next to her home included a nine and a half acre plot of land providing a green space which she and her sister entered through a gate to run free every day to play. Jasmine told me that this liminal space fuelled her creative imagination and its influence inspired respect for the natural world but more importantly began her lifelong experience of parallel realities living side by side…a miniature green forest set inside the city’s grey concrete jungle.
These parallel realities are evident in Jasmine’s combination of the logical or the supposed ‘real’ with the supernatural or magical, making the works look both familiar and unreal at the same time. An example is the small sea egg torso, atop of which sits the upturned head of a human. Its rear end sprouts a feather-like tail and sits on what looks like human hands or claws for feet. Jasmine calls him ‘the Hybrid Master!’ “Ananci, hero and villain of Caribbean folktales, the supreme symbol of transformation and self-determination comfortably adorned with plumes and a shell, blissfully nestled in a world of his own design.”
Continuing the theme of the logical tied to the supernatural, the work ‘Finding Your Stone’, presents a figure comfortably sitting in clouds on a box attached to a six-foot wide painting of blue sky. The figure holds wire balloons, one comes out of the head. A black façade floats in the ether to the left of the figure – suggestive of flying birds.
To read this work logically makes us think that all seems out of order. Why is the figure sitting in the clouds…or more importantly, how is this figure sitting there, and with such composure, right hand gently resting on the heart chakra, left hand holding balloons. Balloons? But they don’t hold any air. To complicate matters, a red ribbon hangs from the figure’s ankle at the end of which is a stone. None of this makes sense to the logical mind. Logical thinking offers us very little when it comes to understanding Jasmine’s work which comes alive when we abandon logic altogether and enjoy the mysteries inherent in the work.
‘Finding the Stone’ is about transcendence. The façade, lifted from the Port-of-Spain abattoir – a virtual slaughter house in the sky. Jasmine reminds us that the macabre exists in the world, right alongside the sublime. The logical and the supernatural lay side by side. The figure has found its stone and is grounded – connected to the earthly plane while transcending earthly things. As a yoga practitioner, this piece reminds of what I call the ‘at-one-ment’ we may experience when we control the breath… and these aren’t balloons…it’s breath we’re talking about here. It’s about that feeling of being at one with everyone and everything, everywhere, right now at this moment. The heart chakra is stimulated – the figure content, seated in a state of grace, composed and in utter bliss. Grounded and ethereal – this figure is connected to the magically real world we all inhabit, but sometimes forget. ‘Finding the Stone’ is a reminder.
None of the figures are singularly male or female. As androgynous beings, they demonstrate yet another form of layering or cross-over signifying the capacity to reach beyond the mundane. They are grounded, centered and introspective; with an aptitude to morph into what they need to become so as to survive, cope and grow to be what they really are. They seek to redress the imbalance within, to soar, and to live with grace and dignity.
Interior and exterior human realities
The relationship between personal struggle and transformation
