"The Village was a marvel of small, heaped houses raised jauntily on groundsels of limestone, and arranged in rows on either side of the multiplying marl roads. Sometimes the roads disintegrated, the limestone slid back and houses advanced across their boundaries to meet those on the opposite side in an embrace of board and shingle and cactus and fence."

- In the Castle of my Skin, George Lamming.

 

This, an essential account of Island life in Barbados, provided the stimulus for a project in an alternative form of creative language. In the Castle of my Skin draws on experiences of an Island native from another time. The perspective of George Lamming carries a weight that is unavoidably significant; the author is 'there' within those pages. I can readily close my eyes and be 'there' too, back in the small wooden house with its corrugated roof and limestone veranda.

 

"Very hot day and having to work with costumed bands in the sun so - a straw hat an some cool clothing. I was going to wear short pants, but I didn't want the girls to chase after me, - not good for the Image so I decided against it. Notice the sandals."

- Kadooment day, My Father.

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Like George Lamming this photograph documents the memory and sentiment that many can relate to. I found this photograph of my father whilst searching for pictures of our old house and enjoyed discovering, in those sun-faded memories, the description of the land almost as George Lamming saw it. I have begun an exploration of the landscape and the idea of a fragmented memory by re-documenting the peripheral - sections of the land that hold the key to the characteristics of the Island. Structure, flora and fauna, in other words, photographic representations of the land itself in order to attempt to provide clarity to memory where information is missing.