2023 PAMM CCI Fellow Shannon Alonzo has been working on the mural Play ah mas, Play yaself throughout her two-month residency at Bakehouse Art Complex. Shannon’s mural explores the dialogue between the Caribbean Carnival and the female masquerader. She speculates on how women have historically challenged the boundaries of corporeal autonomy and spatial engagement through ritual, assumption of persona, and collective action. In the case of the Trinidad Carnival, women have used these festivities to assert their claim over performance spaces and in so doing, situate the female body and its movement as a site of liberation. 

Shannon contrasts the colonial laws prohibiting masking in the streets of Port of Spain in the early 19th century with the development of multifaceted, female storytellers, whose power is derived primarily from the creation of new personas which exist (only) on the Carnival road. She questions the impact of patriarchal structures which demand that women are ‘unmasked’ while remaining unseen, a phenomenon which still exists (albeit in other forms) today.

About the performance

During our annual Miami Art Week event, Baker’s Brunch, Shannon will slowly and methodically erase the detailed mural as a way to emphasize the ephemeral cycles present in Caribbean Carnival praxis, during which we give ourselves over to the transience of the moment and its inevitable loss. Shannon’s actions mirror the embodied, nonlinear nature of time which exists in each instance of a ritual performed or a character assumed during the festivities, giving rise to an ever-evolving archive of Caribbean narratives. The collective consciousness derived from this is then able to transcend the everyday, as we (the masqueraders and spectators alike) come to a greater understanding of self, in relation to one another and the environment. 

Shannon seeks to create a sense of time and place, through which both she and the observer may dialogue with histories that frequently exist only in the transient oral and performance traditions associated with the Carnival. The process is a way to pay homage to the labor, resilience, and spontaneity of those who have walked before us. The Carnival, however, is not simply an occurrence of the past, but rather a vessel, open to narration by the Carnival personas that still haunt our streets today. It allows us to view the masquerade itself as a living, breathing archive which shape-shifts depending on who is charged with telling its story. 

Shannon’s performance is part of “Beyond Representation,” a research and exhibition project focusing on performance art practices from the Caribbean and its diasporas organized by Andrew W. Mellon Caribbean Cultural Institute Curatorial Associate Iberia Pérez González at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM).

About the artist

Shannon Alonzo (b. 1988, St.Joseph, Trinidad and Tobago) is an multi-disciplinary artist focusing primarily on drawing, sculpture and performance. Her practice explores themes of collective belonging, place attachment and the significance of carnival ritual to the Caribbean consciousness. She holds a BA from London College of Fashion and MRes Creative Practice from the University of Westminster. She has exhibited work at the Liverpool Biennial 2023, Ambika P3 and London Gallery West in the U.K, Documenta Fifteen in Germany, Alice Yard, Loftt Gallery and Black Box in Trinidad & Tobago and the Atlantic World Art Fair on Artsy.

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About PAMM CCI x Bakehouse Art Complex partnership

Since 2021, Bakehouse Art Complex and PAMM have been partnering to provide PAMM’s Caribbean Cultural Institute (CCI) artist fellows with studio space and access to art-making facilities and a community of artists. This inter-institutional collaboration gives Caribbean artists the opportunity to connect with the local artists participating in the Bakehouse residency programs, and benefit from its facilities and resources.

For more information abut PAMM’s Caribbean Cultural Institute, access this link.