Those statues!
published: Thursday | August 14, 2003
The Editor Sir, WHEN WILL we understand that true emancipation is a process and not simply a historical event, or, worse just a day-off from work? As I hear the poseurs and philistines blathering about the statues outside of Emancipation Park, I must confess that I find myself having increasingly less sympathy for said monuments. The naked truth is that the figures lack "energy" and reek of banality. Where is the message Mandingo? Fair enough, the statues cannot be faulted in terms of their technical attributes and accomplishments. However, technical correctness is simply not enough. After all it requires little imagination to depict, in the way the monuments do, two recently manumitted ex-slaves naked and gazing vacuously, albeit upwards, in an empty space. The artist, like some of her critics, seems to have missed the "mission" in manumission which is really what the dynamics of the on-going process of emancipation is about. Regrettably the statues both begin and end at the same place, mute and lifeless, with no conspicuous arousal of any kind. Which, ironically, is precisely what renders it misplaced to criticise the statues on the ground of lewdness. There being no inter-play between the figures they are depicted as clearly disconnected even though they stand nude in close but inattentive proximity to each other. Mark you, in most of the comments thus far the phallus looms large and much ado has been made of the man's penis. A size which, in terms of its harmony and proportionality with the rest of the massive male figure, could hardly have been depicted as a thumb tack. Nonetheless, I can well understand the distraction the size of the penis may have caused as penis envy may be a form of red eye not yet researched in Jamaica. Be that as it may, in contrast, little has been said of the female genitalia. I therefore returned to Knutsford Boulevard, which is as good a place as any for such an undertaking; and had a close look at the woman's vulva. The left labium is deftly represented and is to be preferred to the right which appears to be mildly distended. The breasts, though well formed, lack gravity-in the immortal words of legendary Mexican Artist Frida Kahlo. Which goes to show that if you, or the artist, allow for a distraction, you will miss the big picture and many will be left to major in the minor. Left also to blah, blah as the poseurs rush to show how liberal they are while the meaning of emancipation is further diminished and deejays, within shouting range of the statues, bellow expletives irreverently. By the way, on a matter of detail, may I suggest that in acknowledgement of our history and the chronology of events the placements of the names under the monument be reversed, so that of Marcus Garvey precedes that of Bob Marley. I am etc., PATRICK BAILEY 28 Roosevelt Avenue Kingston 6
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