Caribbean Art Defies Cultural Stereotypes

Three artists will discuss Caribbean art and cultural stereotypes at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft on Saturday.KMAC artist-in-residence Sheena Rose of Barbados will discuss her work and contemporary stereotypes of Caribbean culture.Rose has shown her artwork throughout the Caribbean and abroad, from South Africa to Connecticut. Her mixed-media animations are currently on display in the KMAC exhibit “Into the Mix.”“When I hear a stereotype for the Caribbean, I think people think of beaches and coconut trees and we hang out all day, and we have steel pan – this is a musical instrument – playing. They think of these pretty paradise places,” says Rose.Rose says that’s not really her reality, and her artwork reflects the Barbados she knows. Her images of young people in Bridgetown, the capital, feature clothing boutiques and nail polish displays, not donkey carts.Rose will be joined on the panel by Ebony Patterson, a native of Jamaica and professor of painting and drawing at the University of Kentucky, and Christopher Cozier of Trinidad.The panel starts at 12:30 and is free and open to the public. Vanderbilt art professor Courtney J. Martin will moderate.