Buried Treasures

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Project Introduction: Created during a residency at La Bonne in Barcelona, Buried Treasures is part of a body of work entitled ‘The Paradise Project’. 

 

During Kia’s time in residence at La Bonne, she spent time with the women of Sindillar, and learned about their histories and journeys to immigrate to Barcelona. She was inspired to imagine what her experience would be like coming to live in this vibrant city. Buried Treasures explores the journey of an immigrant woman moving to Barcelona through the tale of an island that leaves home and ventures across the seas in search of new opportunities.

 

While it may sound idyllic, the reality is anything but, as the island finds itself gradually shoved down and suppressed after she arrives. Unseen and undervalued despite the unique and beneficial treasures it possesses, the island is forced to uphold the city on her back as she becomes the most recent addition to the living cemetery of dormant foreign lands that have carried the city for years. 

 

Buried Treasures was created during a joint artist residency between February - March 2022 at the La Bonne studios with Sara Baga (Portugal), Kia Redman (Barbados) and Nicola Singh (UK). La Bonne, a partner on the CONTESTED DESIRES programme, is based in Barcelona. The residency followed ‘Colonialism and Gender’, the final capacity building workshop of the CONTESTED DESIRES programme that reflected on archives and archivism in relation to gender, race and identity, viewing them in new ways, in particular from a critical decolonial feminist perspective. This brought into focus absence and stories that are systematically silenced in official narratives.

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Biography: Kia Redman is a Barbados-based creative professional. As an artist, she has participated in shows and residencies across the Caribbean and Europe. Her artistic practice unveils alternative perspectives on history, culture and belonging through unexpected and at times conflicting narratives centred around paradise, the environment and contemporary Caribbean identities. As a filmmaker, she has been selected for regional and international festivals and has won awards for her debut short film Roots|Routes. She is also a camera operator and technical director. Finally, as an animator and video editor, Kia has produced works that have been used in music videos and a range of campaigns.

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View Buried Treasures  here: