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Deborah Jack
“here nor there”
My work continues to be an investigation/response to Homi Bhaba’s concept of the “Third Space” and seeks to present a visual statement of my own. A strategic attack on the neo-colonial “Tourist Space” that continues to frame my identity as a Caribbean artist working within a Dutch colonial framework.
The current project, here nor there, has evolved into an exploration of the difference/similarity between home/homing. The images deal with the fracturing of home space that occurs in the Diasporic body. The fissures that exist between the ruptured spaces, which are evidence of trauma, are for me also sites of healing.
These images are subtle investigation tensions and merging between my personal and public space in here in the US and at home in St. Martin (the Dutch Antilles). My shifting concept of home as I travel between these two cultural spaces. I hope to articulate the minor alterations that take place spatially and conceptually to compensate for not feeling at home anywhere.
here nor there represents my multiple modes of existence/being and my constant shifting of the concept of home. Home, not as a geographical space but as one of shifting memory/memories, where dynamic between the private/public, interior/exterior and the familiar/foreign is one of negotiation and compromise. In this scenario my body becomes a site for this flux and flow. This site, however is not fixed, it moves between cultural spaces that are at once familiar and foreign and finds the home space somewhere in between.
Deborah Jack, MFA (Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1970- )
Having spent her formative years growing up on the island of St. Martin, she considers herself a Caribbean artist. Not only in terms of geography but in terms of cultural/ spiritual location. Her current work deals with identity, trans-cultural existence and the effects of colonialism. Her focus is on constructing a history based on ancestral memory, in opposition to the hierarchical construction of Western dominated history.
Deborah uses a variety of media, such as video, painting and sound art/ poetry. In 1995 she represented the Netherlands Antilles at CARIFESTA VI in Trinidad & Tobago in the area of Visual Arts and Drama. In 2000 she represented St. Martin at CARIFESTA VII in the area of Literary Arts where she was one of the featured readers.
In 1997 Deborah together with several cultural activists created AXUM Art Café. This venue became the nurturing ground and gathering place for the islands avant-garde musicians, poet, singers, dancers, visual artists and intellectuals.
“The Rainy Season” is Deborah’s first published volume of poems. Her work has been published in the journals, “The Caribbean Writer” and “Calabash” and various Caribbean regional newspapers. She was a fellow at the Caribbean Writers Institute at the University of Miami, a recipient of a grant from the Prince Bernard Fund and OKSNA (Social Cultural Organization of the Netherlands Antilles) as well as a invited author at the Miami Book-fair International
Deborah Jack completed her MFA at SUNY Buffalo, where she received several grants and fellowships, including the SUNY College of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Fellowship and was a fellow of the 2002 International Photography Institute National Graduate Seminar. This year she will present papers in England on the art of the Dutch Caribbean Diaspora and will perform a reading at the Studio Museum of Harlem.
Her work has been exhibited and screened in solo and group shows in St. Martin, Tallahassee, Ukraine, Trinidad & Tobago, Germany, Finland, Buffalo and Rochester & Cuba.
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