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Patronage in a Caribbean Context
The Awon and Akyem Connection
Yanique Hume, PhD Lecturer in Culture Studies University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus When we speak about art patronage within a Caribbean context, to what exactly are we referring? Is the assumption that our governments are the principal agents charged with providing public subsidies to further the development and support of the arts? Or should individual collectors inadvertently assume the role of patron in the absence of formalized infrastructural frameworks and institutions? Indeed, the answers to these queries are quite complex and far from uniform when we take into consideration the diverging colonial histories, structures of power, as well as the socio-political and economic landscapes that have developed in the region before and after independence. Keeping in mind this central problematique, what might an exploration of the relationship between collector Mervyn Awon and artist, Ras Akyem Ramsay reveal about the intricacies and meanings of “assistance” and support of the arts? To what degree did Awon’s intervention impact Akyem’s visual production, career and the visual arts tradition of Barbados? While not being able to fully address the questions posed in the space delimited here, what follows is an exploration of some of the definitive moments and opportunities that served to seal a friendship and animate the symbiotic reciprocity that undergirds the relationship between an artist and a collector. The Seeing Eye: The Intersections of Collecting and Supporting Driven primarily by his keen appreciation and love for the arts, Awon an architect by profession, would attest that collecting paintings and sculptors presented him an opportunity to further elaborate on his childhood passion of collecting. While his pursuits of amassing works of art has more aesthetic value or potential socio-economic impact then his beloved marbles, stamps and coins, Awon would argue that at no time was the act of collecting envisaged as a means to procure future financial gains. Instead, his passions were driven by the sheer pleasure, enjoyment and satisfaction he garnered from identifying pieces of great aesthetic merit. It is Awon’s ‘eye’ and ardent search of the ‘right’ piece that led him to that fateful meeting of both Ras Akyem and fellow painter and brethren, Ras Ishi in 1992. Although they all knew of each other, it was renowned Guyanese painter, Stanley Greaves who initiated the initial contact that w ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????%?????????????????????????????Ya`??????????????????????????????????%??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????)
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