Antigua and Barbuda

Find Yourself: Carnival and Resistance explores Carnival in Antigua and Barbuda and its defiance, from religious traditions to opposing slavery to the present-day celebrations. Against the backdrop of photographs of beautiful people going about their everyday life, political will and the sovereignty of a soul is contrasted by towering mannequins clad in modern-day Carnival dress as a contemporary personification of strength. A carnivalesque world is flexible and accommodates shifting identities, which leads to introspection. Woven into the exhibition’s contemporary reworking of intangible cultural heritage and its stance against human exploitation is a message to challenge modern-day slavery and environmental inequality.
Across the globe, Carnival often stands as a microcosm of societal vulnerabilities. Visitors are invited to contemplate their respective societies and to find meaning in their own national forms of cultural expression.