Liminal Space
Liminal Space brings together sixteen Guyanese artists living in Guyana and the United States who explore the relationship between migration and the idea of the “liminal” — from the Latin limens, which means “threshold,” a place of transition, waiting, and unknowing. Working in a variety of mediums, they bear witness to what drives one from a homeland and simultaneously keeps one tethered to it. Today, more Guyanese live outside Guyana than within its borders — an exodus that began in the 1960s as they looked to the United States for economic and educational opportunities. Guyana now has a population of 750,000 and over one million living in its diaspora.
Guyana’s legacy of migration reflects the broader emergence of Caribbean people in global metropolises and is symbolic of universal concerns weighing on our hearts and minds: the tensions between place and placelessness, nationality and belonging, immigrant and citizen. The artists in Liminal Space represent both spectrums of migration: the ones who leave and the ones who are left. They tease out symbols of decay and loss, avoiding trappings of nostalgia by envisioning avenues out of displacement. While their work engages the hard truths of a country defined by constant departure and deemed “a disappearing nation,” they equally offer restorative narratives of why this homeland is loved.
Caribbean Cultural Center New York City, New York June 17, 2017 — November 30, 2017
Featured Artists Kwesi Abbensetts, Damali Abrams, Khadija Benn, Victor Davson, Stanley Greaves, Carl Hazlewood, Dominque Hunter, Michael Lam, Donald Locke, Andrew Lyght, Suchitra Mattai, Christie Neptune, Mason Richards, Karran Sahadeo, Keisha Scarville, Arlington Weithers
Liminal Space: An Educator’s Guide
Press
