RACQUEL ROWE is an interdisciplinary artist from Barbados, who currently resides in Ontario and has lived in Guelph for the past 6 years. Rowe is also in her final semester of her MFA at the University of Waterloo. She uses history to represent how historical events and perceptions shape modern day depictions of Black wom*n and Black culture and thus how these things affect her lived experience. The work takes the form of video, performance and public intervention. Throughout all of her videos colour is formally and symbolically employed, reminiscent of the vast Caribbean landscapes. Rowe’s research process often starts with an action or experiment. Action and then causation are a common method for working through concepts for her; essentially working backwards. She is often compelled to do things and then spends a long time investigating and contextualizing what it is that possess her to do them. After a performance, rather than before she finds herself uncovering deep rooted memories of home that become stronger the more a performance is repeated.
We had the chance to ask Racquel Rowe some pressing questions about her artistic practice to figure out how she works.
Racquel, as a Black, queer, femme, who uses your own body in almost all of your art, can you speak to how identity ties into your work?
"As a Black woman, making performance artwork, my identity is roped up in the work regardless of whether I want it to or not. I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the notion of the compulsory visibility of the Black body and all the historical implications that are also present. I work towards subverting narratives put forth by dominant (white) ideologies and focus on telling stories and narratives that are important to me."
You are originally from Barbados. How does your work translate from a Canadian audience to someone from Barbados?
"Great question, which is still yet to be determined I guess. I haven’t shown any work at home yet, I’d love to post pandemic, Barbados has a really great up and coming contemporary art scene and a lot of great people doing cool work. When the work is seen in a Canadian context by folks from the Caribbean diaspora, it usually sparks really great conversations about memories, places and specific moments that we can collectively discuss. A validating moment for me is when someone goes “oh yeah, my granny does this also, or I do this still”, in regards to some of the gestures in the work. It makes the narratives I’m exploring feel more wide reaching."
What’s your mindset right before you perform?
"Right before a live performance I usually try to calm my mind and focus on the task at hand, almost a little like tunnel vision. After I’ve started I’m able to get comfortable in the space and with the audience, the more comfortable I can get I think the performance is usually better for me and the audience. Depending on how long a performance is, my mind will either stay blank or drift off into my memories. It’s usually after a performance, rather than before, I find myself reflecting and uncovering deep rooted memories I likely wouldn’t have accessed otherwise."
"When I’m performing for the camera my mindset is COMPLETELY different, theres no audience, I’m more in control of external factors-every noise in the room I can account for. My mind shifts more to a production setting I guess, I’m thinking about the set up, lights camera, action… and then once I’ve started, especially something that can’t be repeated for a second take, I’m thinking about the gesture itself and the tole its taking on my body for better or worse. In my second version of Washing Rice I (the remake) 2021 at the very beginning you can see me flinch as the rice starts to pour on top of my head- at the point my mind is cycling through the feel of the cold floor on my body and the eventual burial of my head and impending suffocation."
What’s your experience of how people interact with you before and after your performances?
"In my experience people are often un-assuming before, unsure of whats about to happen. After is the best part for me, being able to interact with people about how they felt during the performance or any insights they’ve uncovered. Hopefully we can all crowd together and watch and interact with performance work again soon."
Talk to us about your thesis! What has been the biggest takeaway from your personal art journey throughout the process?
"Grad school during the pandemic has been quite the experience, filled with lots of ups and downs. I feel really fortunate that I’ve had access to studio space throughout the process and been able to shoot my video work at Ed Video. Unfortunately, my thesis exhibition, The Chicken Is Just Dead First, won’t be open to the public but it’ll live forever online and it was still great to be able to physically install work."
"My thesis basically encompasses everything that excites me, interests me and explores my personal narrative of moving to Guelph from Barbados. Going home when Covid hit really allowed me to expand on concepts and narratives I’d be dancing around before but wasn’t really able to bring to fruition until I got to sit with my family and make work fluidly."
"I’d say my biggest take away throughout the process is how to roll with the punches. I lost a bunch of work earlier in the semester due to a hard drive crash, and I simply just had to either re-film or work with what I had saved in different place. As an artist mostly working in video I’ve really come to learn the art of saving your work MULTIPLE places and platforms."
As an interdisciplinary artist, what do you pull inspiration from?
"For a lot of my recent work I pull inspo from home, Barbados, different elements of Caribbean history and folklore, and also food. I draw heavily on the colours present in the landscapes of home and I think this is reflected in a lot of the visual decisions I make when producing the performance for the camera work."
What’s your earliest memory of making something?
"It would have to be a deliciously ooey and gooey mud pie in my backyard, lots of mud, sprinkle of grass."
How do you stay creative outside of your artistic practice?
"I feel like creating right now is a full time job, outside of my practice I like to rearrange my furniture and pretend I’m an interior designer."
Did you always want to be an artist?
"No, I’ve always liked art and different creative industries but from the time I was four I planned to be the Prime Minister of Barbados! Ask anyone who knows me, they can verify."
If you weren’t an artist or making art, what would you be?
"I would likely be trying to make it on Broadway or doing something in theatre, OR I would be on my way to running a country."
www.racquelrowe.ca
roweracquel@yahoo.com
Racquel Rowe on Instagram