Artist talk: Family Connection

For the exhibition Difficult Pasts. Connected Worlds (curated by Margaret Tali and Ieva Astahovska, until Oct 20 on show at the Tallinn Art Hall Lasnamäe Pavilion) Family Connection has researched Black people present in historic Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian popular cultural and brought them in conversation with each other. From Mauritius, the patron saint of the Blackheads Brotherhood, to Eewar, the Jamaican maroon in Lydia Koidula’s “Juudit or the Last Maroons of the Jamaica Island”. In their artist talk two members from the collective – Rudsel Martinus and Quinsy Gario – will present about their works and discuss the themes present in the collective’s presentation. Martinus will be presenting via zoom from the Caribbean island Curaçao and Gario will be present in Tallinn. As part of their contribution to the exhibition, Gario will also be performing on Saturday, Oct 19, 18.00 at the House of the Blackheads. During the talk he will also speak about that performance titled In the Presence of Blues Part II.

Family Connection is an artist collective founded in 2005 from Curaçao and the Netherlands. The members are part of the Martinus family who were based in the Buena Vista neighborhood on Curaçao. For each presentation the participating artists vary. In Tallinn works are presented from Glenda Martinus, the co-founder of the collective; her brother Rudsel Martinus; and the children of Glenda Martinus – Jörgen Gario and Quinsy Gario. The group has worked together to present an installation consisting of paintings, audio, video and sculpture. Their work is concerned with decoloniality and presenting speculative histories. The subject matter differs per exhibition, but the collective actively relates their positioning in the Caribbean with the local context of their presentations. Previously the collective has presented work in Riga (Latvia), Berlin (Germany), Utrecht (the Netherlands), Eindhoven (the Netherlands) and on Curaçao.

The talk will be held in English, everyone is welcome to join!