Tirzo Martha

Tirzo Martha

1.What does “Caribbean” mean to you?

The Caribbean is the ideal laboratory where experimentations have no limits. It’s young and still developing. It is the space where a lot has been made possible, for example racial mixes and religion that adapt and adopt.

2. What if anything is the significance of location- What role does location play in your understanding and experience of the Caribbean?

In spite of the fact that the islands of the Caribbean are divided by the Caribbean see they are still united in the different aspects like the past history, religion, social and cultural development and political issues.

3.Can you relate a story from your past that seems to describe your experience of “Caribbeanness”?

A thing of the “Caribbeanness” is bad communication and I’ve been tortured a lot by lack of communication between the island on the different levels. For example if you want to visit an island in the Caribbean coming from an other island in the Caribbean it takes some planning and traveling time to get there. Communication from person to person can also drag on. If people don’t know you they don’t react or communicate in a fluent way.

4.In what ways has Caribbean culture been used as a politico-economic  tool? What role have location, the artist, media played in this?

The Caribbean has been used as the territory where everything is possible. Big companies have moved their headquarters to the Caribbean to evade taxes. All the resorts that have the function of “off terrain spaces” for the locals-Tourism has also created its off limit conditions on the islands. The neo colonial characteristics of tourism are creating a lot of tension and contradictions on the islands of the Caribbean.The media in some cases have been supporting all this under the coverage of job creating opportunities. Some artists have been protesting against this system and others live from it.