RASKAL: How did you end up working as a curator?

Evan: It all began with a conversation about a hunt for those stressful Give-Back Hours (The Give-Back Programme is a Barbadian government initiative where students have to volunteer a set number of hours in approved community service per year as part of the government's commitment to pay tuition for students pursuing tertiary education.) I found out I could assist Delyt with some art exhibitions to get some hours completed. Soon after, I ended up curating some of the shows myself. After I did my first show in Speightstown as part of their Freedom Festival - Spirituality, I realised that I was really enjoying the experience, and ended up being one of the main curators for the space. 

RASKAL: How do you work with other artists and curators to develop exhibitions?

Evan: Well, I’m definitely hoping to do that more. Things can spiral so quickly that unfortunately, there hasn’t always been enough time to sit with artists and other curators to work through ideas and space. The opportunities I have had have been so informative and honestly just fun, especially since I’m still really new to it, as well as the space itself being relatively new, those moments where you can get through it and bounce ideas off have been really beneficial. I'm looking forward to more collaborations in 2024, if all goes well.

RASKAL: What is your latest exhibition and what was it like?

Evan: It was a children's gallery - a truly wonderful experience to pull together and showcase. It is officially called “I.A.A.M” (I Am A Masterpiece). It shows a collection of paper mache masks that children created. These masks are based on 20 Tribes/Ethnic Groups that were traded during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. It also has a butterfly forest, featuring paintings they did on canvas during the summer with Tonia Forte to encourage their creative expression. Last, but not least, there is a wall where people could come and create a paper mask and put it up, and the engagement from that has been beautiful and so much fun.

RASKAL: What artists or curators are you hoping to work with?

Evan: Oh wowwww! There is a very long list of people, but FOR SURE, the ones on the top of my mind... I would definitely love to work with Therese Hadchity, my colleagues from my Graduating year at Barbados Community College, and again with the I.D.G.S (Institute for Gender and Development Studies) and Anne Bancroft (and honestly everybody) from the Barbados Museum and Historical Society.

RASKAL: What drives you as an artist?

Evan: It's interesting because it’s not something I share too often, but there is a huge spiritual component and responsibility I feel when making art. My work is so driven and rooted in history, narrative, familial lineage and archetype. There is a strong ancestral energy that pushes me to use my hands and create.

RASKAL: What inspires paintings like “Shake Senora” and “Matriarchy: Margaret and Ralphie” 

Evan: It is again that spiritual push and responsibility. I feel such a need to tell and share these ancestral stories because I feel like once you can connect with an ancestral visual, you can further begin to connect with yourself. Also, I’m obsessed with colonial history, gender studies and sociology, and those two, in particular, are heavy with those themes because I was beginning to dive into my interests when I worked on those.

RASKAL: How do you bring it all together as both an artist and curator?

Evan: I don't have an official answer yet because I'm still trying to figure it all out fully. Curating and creating still feels fun and fresh. I work while doing all of this which helps financially, so I think that's what brings most of it together.

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