Feature: York U professor highlights indentureship to mark TT 50th anniversary

Dr Andil Gosine

York University Professor and Trinidad-born artist Andil Gosine is showing a preview of his upcoming multimedia performance about the “intimate inheritances” of indentureship, and migration in general, in celebration of Trinidad and Tobago’s 50th anniversary of Independence.

Cutlass will be the first of four “art happenings” that will preview ANDIL GOSINE’S WARDROBES, on August 29 at the OnlyOneGallery in Toronto. 

The evening will feature the premiere of his independence-themed video work “500 and 50 (Cutlass)” as well as sculptural work and a featured concert performance by acclaimed Canada-born, Paris-based Haitian artist Mélissa Laveaux in a rare visit to Toronto. She is one of the featured collaborators on the project.

Mélissa Laveaux

“WARDROBES is the long story, one long story, of our desires, what we want, how we feel,” explained Dr. Gosine. 

The project actually began as a fashion project while he was a Visiting Fellow to the New York Fashion Institute of Technology, in 2010 and 2011. There, he presented a collection of fashion objects that were inspired by the experience of indentureship in the Caribbean, including the titular Cutlass, which he made as an 18K white gold brooch. 

For the August 29 event, he has produced a limited silver Cutlass pendant to mark the occasion; advance purchasers of the pendant receive a free ticket to the event.

“I didn’t really understand the pieces until after I made them,” he told JYOTI. “Then the more research and thought I dedicated, the more I wanted to write them into a story.” 

ANDIL GOSINE’S WARDROBES interweaves two stories—indentured labourer Savitri leaving Calcutta in 1845, and Jimmy, leaving Paris “with a broken heart” in 2010. Clothing is a central device. “Both are packing up their clothes in a state of anxiousness, as they set off on these new lives.”

Dr. Gosine hopes to show the final presentation in New York, Toronto and Trinidad and Tobago late next year. 

Tickets to the Cutlass show and concert have been sold out. However, you can stay in contact for more information and check on how you can win a piece from the collection. Click here to go to the Facebook page.