Although based in Atlanta, Georgia, artist Wendell R Smith wants to be known as a TT artist.
So, for his first solo exhibition in over a decade, he has returned home to present Reclamation.
Reclamation has about 30 mixed media pieces which includes sculptural work, paintings and drawings. He worked in pastel, oil, acrylic and water paints, as well as charcoal and canvas.
He said having his first solo exhibition in over ten years in TT is emotional for him because the world has changed a lot since he moved to the US in 1997. But, he believes everyone has a responsibility to the place from which they came.
[caption id="attachment_986621" align="alignnone" width="768"] Artist Wendell R Smith working on the mixed-media sculpture Mother of Mercy in his studio in Atlanta. -[/caption]
“I feel like I am coming home so that I can give my little contribution for the larger good of the nation. There is a sense of humility, sharing my vision for TT.”
“I never thought I’d ever migrate so it caught me off-guard. I feel like a castaway. I get jealous when I see people back home creating, doing work and showing. I finally just said to myself, ‘From here on I’m going to have an exhibit at least every two years in Trinidad.’ It has always been my dream.”
He said his last show in TT was in 1997 before he left for graduate school in the US. Smith said exhibiting outside of the Caribbean was not the same. He wants to see what happens when people within his own culture see his work. He wants to hear the responses of the people whose stories he is telling.
[caption id="attachment_986622" align="alignnone" width="684"] Mystical Thought by Wendell R Smith. -[/caption]
“I’m bringing my experiences ‘back to the village,’ coming with a different perspective in terms of the space I left, the experiences I’ve had, and the way I was able to look at my culture, traditions and society from a distance.”
He said not living in TT made him an observer which changed the way he saw the culture. He stopped taking it for granted and further connected with it.
Smith told Sunday Newsday the exhibition is “a story of becoming” – the journey in attempting to understand his own experiences as an artist, as a Trinidadian, as a Caribbean person, and as a citizen of the world.
The work is based in history, as he believes it is only when people realise where they began that they could move forward and make something of themselves. The exhibit is also an opportunity to return to TT and give its people hope.
“We’ve been through so much trauma recently that if we could just sit down and create beauty and art, that would be great. I think this is when our society really needs art and creative expression.
“And with everything that is going on right now with crime, I just feel this is the moment, more than anything else, for us to go into the past. Because it was in the past that people understood community, that people had a sense of taking care of each other. So I find my comfort in the past...Of course, not the traumatic past.”
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