Clement Siatous Video By Laurie
Consider the term Sagren and define it in your post (the Creole term used to describe the profound sorrow and longing for a denied homeland). Describe what you think this sensation is like, plumb your own memory and experience for a moment when you feel have you have experienced this feeling. Explain.
I think this sensation feels sorrow it’s the feeling of when someone took something sacred away from you. This sensation is hurtful too, because the sadness comes from everything that has been taken from what you have worked on. In addition, I will react out in anger or frustration. Some moments after feeling sad and then you contemplate all of the events that have occured and you get angry all over again. For example, this sensation of sorrow and anger happens when I think of both my mom and dad. My parents are from Port- Au- Prince, Haiti which is the largest city of the Caribbean. Many years ago, people from Haiti have decided to live in the neighboring country known as Dominican Republic. Since then the Dominican Republic has forced people of Haitian decent out of their home and country. Even though they were born in DR even the people who have lived there for all of their lives. Although, I was not born in Haiti I feel a close relationship to the ones who have been relocated.
Choose a piece that you feel particularly suggests the condition of “Sagren”, take a photo for your post, in your own words describe the elements that create this feeling.
How do these works function as 1) art 2) personal documents 3) historical documents 4) political documents?
These elements that create this feeling are families who live and work with each other in a community, the church was a gathering place for the people to not only worship but to see one another, people who were working and who needed money to support their family, the horses who are cared after by their owner.
These works function as:
1. These works function as art because the artist chose to visualize his idea through a choice of medium. Painting his feelings onto a canvas his color pallete have illustrated his memory of his favorite moments. These works function as art because now we can get a clearer picture of the Chagos Island before the tragic events took place. He has also painted a very beautiful picture in my mind that is reminiscent of the country of Haiti.
2. These works function as a personal documentation is very important because the people he decided to illustrate could have some personal relationship to him. Siatous had to vision their smile and movement. He even illustrated important places for example the church, and beach.
3.These works function as historical documents because he includes dates on his canvas. These dates can be used on a timeline to track the events in which the island was seized by the British Naval to create space for the U.S. naval base. Clement was a part of Chagos and he chooses to document what he can through his work of art.
4. These works function as political documents because Siatous became a part of a political movement. He has hiss art to prove that he was a victim of how the U.S. naval base tried to cover up their home. How the seize caused people to be removed from an established island.
By creating this work Siatous has created an archive based on his own personal history. as he and his family were evicted from their homeland, this creation fills a void in physical world as well as the heart and his mind of the artist. It also contradicts the established historical account, therefore it is not merely a personal act – but a political one. the works are based on memories that could be 50 or 60 years old – so you can imagine there may be invention within the process to fill in the blanks. Siatous is in effect “performing identity“: plumbing his own memories and stories and reenacting his own past through art. how do think these inventions effect the success of the works as 1) art 2) personal documents 3) historical documents 4) political documents, in what ways do they add to or detract from the ultimate effect?
1. These inventions effect the success of the works as art because Clement gets to incorporate his own sense of style through his painting. By this I mean that he was able to create certain colors, placements of objects, and people as he went along. He could also add certain actions that he felt might help the design of his work. For example, the crab on the tree might have been climbing the tree, or the dog at the corner of the canvas.
2, These inventions effect the success of the works as personal documents because he immediately has a connection to Chagos Island that you can not take away from him. He could be deeply affected by this and no one can put down the way he is feeling because Clement believes that he has a personal relationship that the people of the U.S. naval base did not possess.
3. These inventions effect the success of the works as historical documents because to emphasize a time mark on the events that took place. They also effect the work as political documents in the way they add to the ultimate effect of who was living there, how they worked or interacted together as a community. What the naval base put in place took them away from their home, Chagos Island was their home. Based on what I learned from putting on exhibitions like this is the importance home to another person. I learned that once you have no access you produce work to show how beautiful and special a place meant to you.