A new book by Malene Barnett celebrates more than 60 artists, designers, and craftspeople whose work has been shaped by their Caribbean roots.
Published by Artisan, Crafted Kinship: Inside the Creative Practices of Contemporary Black Caribbean Makers peers into a range of multi-faceted practices influenced by the diaspora. Whether drawing on connections to the land and memory or speaking to colonial histories and African origins, each creative shares insight into their practices, histories, and communities through insightful interviews.
Several artists featured previously on Colossal have contributed their stories to the nearly 400-page tome. Firelei Báez, for example, discusses how her work strives to center the Caribbean within a global context by capturing traditions like Carnival or perfectly translating the way sunlight would filter through her grandmother’s backyard in the Dominican Republic.
Similarly, Morel Doucet explains how foregrounding his Haitian identity has allowed him to tell his own story, rather than have others decide who or what his delicate, ceramic sculptures are about.
Also included in the book are April Bey, who illuminates the relationship between opulence and thriving futures, and Sonya Clark, who unravels the Eurocentric distinction between art and craft. Barnett, too, is an artist and maker who shares glimpses into her studio and meticulous ceramic practices.
As a whole, Crafted Kinship focuses on the processes, considerations, and histories that go into a vast range of works, drawing connections between each element, maker, and their ancestral ties.
Find your copy on Bookshop.
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