Barbadian Chattel House – Limited Edition Print 24×24
I been to Barbados a few times …
the first time I went I wrote in my journal …
” “Barbados lacks soul and that’s what’s wrong with it” – and then I thought about it and continued – “but the truth is that that is what Barbados is, it’s not really something that’s wrong with it, just a piece of its essence, they don’t flaunt, they just are. Others, friends, tell me that they know a Barbados, a warm, welcoming one full of interesting fun loving people – but they, these friends, when pressed, still agree that yes, definitely, there is a wall, albeit a low slung and Georgian cut stone one, over which you have to climb before you can encounter this warm side of the Bajan spirit. “
barbados and bajans grew on me over time as I went back again and again …
actually when i started doing dreadyness i started not in cayman or jamaica but in barbados, grenada and the bvi … i was really fond of grenada, but then i should be as my great grandfather emigrated to jamaica from grenada.
So, here i am again, coming back full circle to the idea of bajan-ism and art based on barbados – dreadyness has evolved somewhat from them first days of experiment in a new style and fashion.
there’s a particular kind of building in barbados called the ‘chattel house’, they’re iconic, you see them all over bridgetown; architects evolve them for the modern vernacular and they’re part of the historic landscape …
“The term goes back to the plantation days when the home owners would buy houses designed to move from one property to another. The word “chattel” means movable property so the name was appropriate. Chattel houses are set on blocks or a groundsill rather than being anchored into the ground. In addition, they are built entirely out of wood and assembled without nails. This allowed them to be disassembled (along with the blocks) and moved from place to place. This system was necessary historically because home “owners” typically did not own the land that their house was set on. Instead, their employer often owned the land…”
anyhow, so when i came to do a bajan image i chose to do a chattel house … and a goat and a banana tree … and then a friend said i had to put in a bajan dog, so there’s a dog on the back step …
there’s always a dog!