Richard Mark Rawlins presents HERE is NOT A HAPPY PLACE

Hosted by Richard Mark Rawlins, Artist and Medulla Art Gallery

You are invited to
HERE IS NOT A HAPPY PLACE
BY RICHARD MARK RAWLINS

Opening: Monday 18th March, 2019
Time: 10am-6pm
Address: Medulla Art Gallery, #37 Fitt Street, Woodbrook, Port of Spain.
Contact: 1(868)680-1041, 1(868)622-1196 or [email protected]
Closing date: 28th March, 2019
Gallery hours: Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 11am-2pm.

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC - FREE ADMISSION

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Richard Mark Rawlins was born in 1967, in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago. A recent graduate of the Royal College of Art’s print programme (2019), Rawlins’ work investigates the "pop-cultural" poetics and politics of life in the Caribbean, the contested and resultant histories/realities of colonialism and its transpontine consequence, black identity and diaspora politics. Rawlins’ work has been featured internationally at “Eyes of Many Kinds”, CGP Galleries, London, UK (2019); “OVERPR!NT, AG!TATE, ACT!VATE”, Museum Centre de la Gravure et de l’image imprimée, La Louvière, Belgium (2018); “Most things Happen When I Am Asleep”, ARTSPACE NZ, Auckland, New Zealand (2018), “1st Bienal Internacional de Asuncion”, Paraguay (2016); “Digital”, National Gallery, Jamaica (2015); the “Jamaica Biennial” (2014) and the “Global Africa Project”, Museum of Art and Design (MAD), New York, USA (2010). Rawlins’ work will also be featured in the upcoming exhibition, ‘Get Up, Stand Up!’ at Somerset House in London. Rawlins' work is part of the Wedge Curatorial Collection, Toronto; AMBA Collection, London; the Art Collection of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago.

ABOUT THE SHOW:
“Here is not a Happy Place” is the title of a suite of paintings made in the months prior to Rawlins’ departure to study at London’s Royal College of Art in 2017. The paintings (some of which are now in private collections) have never been shown in public, save for a feature in the November 2017, issue of Caribbean Quarterly, A Journal of Caribbean Culture. These paintings are all part of the artist’s body of work “A Dress to the Nation” part of which was first shown prior to International Women’s day 2017, at Alice Yard, Port of Spain. In this continuing exploration, Rawlins renders the dress as a disembodied wraith, wandering around seeking answers while attempting to live, work and play safely despite the fragility of the moment in this place we call paradise. By the time the series was completed, 37 women had either been killed or gone missing, the youngest being less than one year old.

If you wish to subscribe to our invitation list kindly email: [email protected]