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Alberta Whittle
Respectability Won't Save You: A Caribbean Haunting - Curated by Arianna Nourse, 18 May - 25 June 2022

Alberta Whittle: Respectability Won't Save You: A Caribbean Haunting - Curated by Arianna Nourse

Past exhibition
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Overview
Film still from Alberta Whittle, RESET, 2020. Co-commissioned & co-produced by Frieze and Forma. © and Courtesy the artist, 2020.
Film still from Alberta Whittle, RESET, 2020. Co-commissioned & co-produced by Frieze and Forma. © and Courtesy the artist, 2020.

Alberta Whittle's ancestors arrived from rural Barbados in the 1920s, and earlier; but by the 1960s, they'd truly arrived. Bridgetown was culture, Bridgetown was class. Bridgetown was respectable-and respectability? Respectability was safety. 

Nicola Vassell Gallery is pleased to present Alberta Whittle: Respectability won't save you: a Caribbean haunting, an exhibition of paintings, tuftings, drawings and video work curated by Arianna Nourse.

 

For the artist’s grandfather, Gladstone Fitzroy Barker, there would be no combing of hair outside; no shiny clothes on his family before 6 pm; and certainly no island mysticism.  In silken armour - the cousins hoped - no officer would frisk you. Follow the codes - the aunties whispered - and nobody gets hurt. 

 

Years later, and a land apart, Gladstone’s granddaughter questions the price extracted by her forebear’s call to “self-contain”. For her solo debut in New York, Alberta Whittle summons a journey of assimilation, resistance and healing for herself, her family; indeed, for any of us prodded to “cover up” to get-by.

 

 

- "How to Avoid Becoming a Snake", by Arianna Nourse © 2022

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Works
  • Alberta Whittle, Listening in the shadows for the call of the masquerade, 2022
    Alberta Whittle, Listening in the shadows for the call of the masquerade, 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, Prayers for those craving sweetness, 2022
    Alberta Whittle, Prayers for those craving sweetness, 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, Sunday afternoons are made for asserting beauty, 2022
    Alberta Whittle, Sunday afternoons are made for asserting beauty, 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, Respectability won’t save us: cycles of erasure II, 2022
    Alberta Whittle, Respectability won’t save us: cycles of erasure II, 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, Conjuring duppies behind the Queen’s back, 2022
    Alberta Whittle, Conjuring duppies behind the Queen’s back, 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, Respectability won’t save us: cycles of erasure I, 2022
    Alberta Whittle, Respectability won’t save us: cycles of erasure I, 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, Survival technology (camouflage), 2022
    Alberta Whittle, Survival technology (camouflage), 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, Respectability won’t save us: cycles of erasure III, 2022
    Alberta Whittle, Respectability won’t save us: cycles of erasure III, 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, Playing numbers under Auntie Ramona’s eye (Happy Vale), 2022
    Alberta Whittle, Playing numbers under Auntie Ramona’s eye (Happy Vale), 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, Icon for summoning memory, 2022
    Alberta Whittle, Icon for summoning memory, 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, Icon to prepare for masquerade, 2022
    Alberta Whittle, Icon to prepare for masquerade, 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, Encountering the hostile environment, she breathes easily and steadily, 2022
    Alberta Whittle, Encountering the hostile environment, she breathes easily and steadily, 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, Cosmopolitan dreamings (London), 2022
    Alberta Whittle, Cosmopolitan dreamings (London), 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, When assimilation is demanded, our spirit stays strong, 2022
    Alberta Whittle, When assimilation is demanded, our spirit stays strong, 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, When our hands touch, we remember Ma-Ma, 2022
    Alberta Whittle, When our hands touch, we remember Ma-Ma, 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, Poised and ready to counter the hard-hearted gaze of surveillance, 2022
    Alberta Whittle, Poised and ready to counter the hard-hearted gaze of surveillance, 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, Feet planted on Culloden Road, yet looking towards Newcastle, 2022
    Alberta Whittle, Feet planted on Culloden Road, yet looking towards Newcastle, 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, Naver strings forever entwined – no fear, only love, 2022
    Alberta Whittle, Naver strings forever entwined – no fear, only love, 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, God don’t come, he send, 2022
    Alberta Whittle, God don’t come, he send, 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, Out of the chalk outline, she arises, 2022
    Alberta Whittle, Out of the chalk outline, she arises, 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, Strolling outside of the crosshairs (into pleasure), 2022
    Alberta Whittle, Strolling outside of the crosshairs (into pleasure), 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, In tidal movementations, she carves out memories, 2022
    Alberta Whittle, In tidal movementations, she carves out memories, 2022
  • Alberta Whittle, RESET, 2020
    Alberta Whittle, RESET, 2020
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Installation Views
  • Main Gallery 3
  • Main Gallery 1
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  • Main Gallery 5
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  • Main Gallery 13
  • Main Gallery 10
  • Main Gallery 12
  • Main Gallery 11
  • Middle Room 1
  • Middle Room 2
  • Middle Room 3
  • Office 2
  • Office 1
  • Back Room 1
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