Moko Jumbies
The kernel of this artwork started with a quote from Trinidadian designer Peter Minshall about his costume, The Dying Swan, which he created for carnival 2016. He wrote, “I had seen ‘Moko Jumbies’ all my life, but one day, suddenly, I thought ‘my god he’s a ballerina on toes’ … This is not a costume, this is Mas.” The work seeks to illustrate that while there is variety in carnival practices — and wider cultural norms — there are also connecting threads and histories which remain consistent. The recurring symbolism of these figures is indicative of a wide shared history and the blending of European and African cultures across the region. This work represented the Cayman Islands at Carifesta XIII in Barbados, 2018 and was shown in the exhibition Cross Currents – 1st Cayman Islands Biennial at NGCI in 2019.
About the Artist
Shane “Dready” Aquârt
b. 1963
Shane Aquârt, who signs his art “Dready”, has a whimsical graphic style influenced by his rich mixture of cultural experiences: a Caribbean childhood, education at an English boarding school, a Canadian high school, and a US college. Aquârt has illustrated several publications, and his work has been extensively used in merchandising, commercial graphics, and interiors. His solo exhibition Cayman Panorama: Things That Exist Only in My Fading Memory was featured at the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands in 2013, and recently installed at the Owen Roberts International Airport as part of the NGCI’s Art at the Airport project (2019). His work has featured in numerous NGCI exhibitions, including Metamorphoses (2014), tIDal Shift: Explorations of Identity in Contemporary Caymanian Art (2015), Upon the Seas (2017), Cross Currents – 1st Cayman Islands Biennial (2019), Reimagined Futures – 2nd Cayman Islands Biennial (2021), Thatch Roofs & Ironwood Posts (2024), and The Ties That Bind (2024).
