Grant for Innovation in the Arts and Humanities

Professor Lesley Ferris used this grant, awarded by the Office of Research, towards Afro-Caribbean Carnival Arts: An Interactive Multimedia Exhibit, which opened at the Museum of London in 2007. The exhibit created an immersion experience for the audience, evoking as far as possible the powerful “total theatre” of London’s Notting Hill Carnival, the largest street performance in Europe. The primary focus of the exhibit is on “mas-making,” a tradition taken by immigrants from Trinidad to London and developed in continuous interaction with the island. Celebrating Afro-Carribean presence, the costume artists of Carnival have created an aesthetic repertoire for public spaces that has been adapted to a range of events including the Atlanta Olympics, the London Millennium Celebration, and the Queen's Golden Jubilee. Faculty from three departments and two colleges joined Professor Ferris on this exhibit, which was co-curated by Professor Ferris and Ruth Tompsett of Middlesex University, London.

 

Related Sites:

» Midnight Robbers: The Artists of Notting Hill Carnival