In this special edition, Fathermen proudly presents the work of burgeoning Glasgow-based artist Stella Phipps.
The illustrations that feature here, are part of a collaborative project between Stella and Adom that seeks to illuminate new interpretive angles on the themes of paternal visibilities and the mundane - yet under-recognised - caring kin-practices of Caribbean men.
(Some text will follow - first from artist, then ethnographer - to offer a contextual backdrop to subjects and project).
© Stella Phipps
© Stella Phipps
© Stella Phipps
Of her images Stella writes:
"These portraits depict the unique bond between father and child, suggesting shared memories and experiences. Here, the fathers are caring for and nurturing their children, a vital part of each-others lives; based on my own childhood experiences and close relationship to my dad.
For me, Fathermen celebrates the diverse responsibilities that come with fatherhood in Dominica and beyond. It opens up engaging conversations about more equal forms of parenting and challenges stereotypes of 'absent' or uncommitted fathers in society"
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Adom:
The figure of the father has a troubled place in the Caribbean imagination. Notions of paternal absence abound in popular discourses that repeat throughout the Antilles. Yet it seems that the image of the feckless father is so deeply embedded a notion in the Caribbean that quotidian acts of kining -so mundane and so unremarkably everyday that they seem beyond comment - are rendered invisible. Walking children to daycare, 'looking at' (minding) a toddler with a watchful eye whilst fixing a bicycle, bathing a sick child in the curative Caribbean sea or simply posé (resting), sitting and watching TV at home 'wid de kids' - are all examples of the unexamined ground of fathering and male kin-care in Dominica (and elsewhere). Many Caribbean men are in complex ways perceived by children and 'child-mothers' to be absented from their offspring's lives. Yet, this well recognized reality conceals another subtly vivid reality that deserves acknowledgement. Stella's illustrations are an ode to these subtle everyday intimacies between men and their young kin. We witness bodies in close contact - maybe brothers, fathers, uncles or simply neighbors - holding, embracing, feeding or stood with kin. The images convey moments that might be occasioned or routine , a snapshot of a summer with a returning father who resides 'overs' (overseas), perhaps, or being fed by a cohabiting father during his day off work.
As illustrative interpretations of photographs, these images are the interwoven with the artist's fatherly memories and as such communicate a very fundamental and immediate human quality that traverses bounds of difference.This enables tthe bodies/subjects featured to stand apart from the caucophony of voices that malign and over-determine fathering in the Antilles. For a moment here Stella's drawings bring about a semblance of serenity, an incubated co-being, a silent kinship beyond parental frictions and disjunctures. Images of laboring bodies or protective, providing and disciplining hands might offer a more familiar picture of the embodied practice of Caribbean fathering, consistent with normative ideas about paternal duty and care in the region. Yet these less common images of bodily closeness offer a possibility of seeing men's affective relations with children as something ordinary and habitual.
As illustrative interpretations of photographs, these images are the interwoven with the artist's fatherly memories and as such communicate a very fundamental and immediate human quality that traverses bounds of difference.This enables tthe bodies/subjects featured to stand apart from the caucophony of voices that malign and over-determine fathering in the Antilles. For a moment here Stella's drawings bring about a semblance of serenity, an incubated co-being, a silent kinship beyond parental frictions and disjunctures. Images of laboring bodies or protective, providing and disciplining hands might offer a more familiar picture of the embodied practice of Caribbean fathering, consistent with normative ideas about paternal duty and care in the region. Yet these less common images of bodily closeness offer a possibility of seeing men's affective relations with children as something ordinary and habitual.
The drawings presented here are part of an emerging visual ethnographic project set to be exhibited in Scotland in early 2015 on the themes outlined above. It will present a composition of photography, quotations (from Dominican men/fathers), audiovisual installations featuring everyday kinship activities and, of course, more of Stella's illustrations.
We are currently locating the right space for such an exhibition; one that might offer a diverse public access to the project. If you have an exhibition space in mind or are interested in promoting / supporting this project, please leave your contact email in the comments box at the foot of this post.
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On the artist:
Stella's art emerges from personal experience, people and places, the surrealities of dreams, wild landscapes, folktales and the sea.
For more of her work, please visit her website at stellaphipps.com or stellaphipps.tumblr.com.
