Chant Down Babylon
Abigail Hadeed, Trinidadian, born 1963
2019
Photograph on Palo Duro Etching paper
Sheet: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the William S. Rubin Fund
© Abigail Hadeed
2022.58.4
Geography
Place Made: Trinidad, Caribbean, South America
Period
21st century
Object Name
Photograph
Research Area
Photograph
Not on view
Label
With their painted faces, the Black Indian Masqueraders in these photographs are a central part of carnival in Trinidad and Tobago. They dress in silks to evoke the clothing of the original Spanish colonizers who brought slavery to the Caribbean. From the series titled Warriors of the Huracán, these two images document these members of a masquerade group parading through the streets and posing with props. Dressing up to mock the powerful from the island’s colonial past is a longstanding tradition for the Black and Indigenous citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.
How do these images differ from other carnival traditions you have seen?
From the 2024 exhibition An Instant Out of Time: Shaping a Collection, curated by Alisa Swindell, Associate Curator of Photography
Course History
Art History 48.02, Histories of Photography, Katie Hornstein, Spring 2024
African and African American Studies 63.01, Sociology 71.01, Race Matters: Race Made to Matter, Trica Keaton, Spring 2024
Music 18.03, African and African American Studies 39.07, Verzuz: A History of Black Popular Music, Allie Martin, Spring 2024
Religion 17.01, African and African American Studies 83.05, African Religions in the Americas, Eugenia Rainey, Spring 2024
Exhibition History
An Instant Out of Time: Shaping a Collection, Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 20-July 21, 2024.
Provenance
The artist, Abigail Hadeed, SPLICE Studios, Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago; sold to present collection, 2022.
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