Dear Editor,
The Guyana diaspora is nothing if not literate and engaged. They showed it in a great event at the London High Commission on Tuesday 30th October where the great Guyanese artist Aubrey Williams was under discussion.
That was much enhanced by two things – an actual Aubrey Williams in the room which the HC had found – though they may have more (!) and the presence by Skype from GT of Elfrieda Bissember, the former curator of the National Gallery.
She was joined by artist Hew Locke – whose parents were personal friends of Williams and renowned Caribbean Art Historian Dr Leon Wainwright of the Open University. The whole thing very ably chaired by Clive Myrie, the best known black face on British TV news and a Williams collector of old.
Discussions ranged from the Guyana/Guyaneseness of Aubrey, the role of the jungle/bush in his psyche, his place in the pantheon of fine painting and more. Intellectual but understandable. Derrieda was never mentioned….
The meeting concluded that Williams was long overdue for a major exhibition at the Tate -they have 170 of his works in stock and those present resolved to petition them to put one on in the not too distant future.
Meetings like this at the Guyana High Commission in London are vital to the diaspora to remind them of their proud history, hold them together and get their brain cells working. Long may they continue thanks to the patronage of High Commissioner Hamley Case.
Yours faithfully,
John ‘Bill Cotton/Reform’ Mair
