“Wild natures”: A Trio of Written Works

To commemorate the final week of The Plural of He, we spotlight three recently published works developed in conjunction with the exhibition and the life and work of Colin Robinson (1961–2021), the Trinidadian American poet, critic, and unsung hero of social and sexual liberation movements in New York, the Caribbean, and throughout the world, as part of the Continuum: Uniting Queer Artists Over Time series - a partnership program between The American LGBTQ+ Museum and the Leslie Lohman Museum of Art.

Curator Andil Gosine is joined by artist Devan Shimoyama and poet Shivanee Ramlochan for a conversation and celebration of their trio of works: Gosine’s survey Nature's Wild: Love, Sex, and Law in the Caribbean, Colin Robinson's archived draft manuscript Take me, take me, and the exhibitions accompanying catalog. Together, they reflect on the preservation of queer Caribbean history, the artistic and literary thoughts and processes behind the text and accompanying art pieces, and Robinson’s work as an artist and cultural organizer. After the conversation, we host a reception in the Museum with publications available for purchase.

With the help of curator Andil Gosine, we will be offering a select number of books from Colin's collection for sale. Books will be pay what you wish for a one-day only sale!

Nature's Wild: Love, Sex, and Law in the Caribbean

In Nature's Wild, Andil Gosine engages with questions of humanism, queer theory, and animality to examine and revise understandings of queer desire in the Caribbean. Surveying colonial law, visual art practices, and contemporary activism, Gosine shows how the very concept of homosexuality in the Caribbean (and in the Americas more broadly) has been overdetermined by a colonially influenced human/animal divide. Gosine refutes this presupposed binary and embraces animality through a series of case studies: a homoerotic game called puhngah, the institution of gender-based dress codes in Guyana, and efforts toward the decriminalization of sodomy in Trinidad and Tobago—including the work of famed activist Colin Robinson, paintings of human animality by Guadeloupean artist Kelly Sinnapah Mary, and Gosine's own artistic practice. In so doing, he troubles the ways in which individual and collective anxieties about “wild natures” have shaped the existence of Caribbean people while calling for a reassessment of what political liberation might look like.

Chapter three of this text is the beginning of this exhibition and recounts the story of CAISO, the LGBTQ+ organization co-founded by Colin, and includes biographical recollections from his childhood growing up in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Take me, take me

This novella, excavated from an uncompleted manuscript by Colin, inspired the creation of Devan Shimoyama's Porky's Was Loud, which is featured in the exhibition. In the novella, as in Devan's painting, the main character's charged sexuality drives drives narratives about growing up in a changing landscape of attitudes in the Caribbean.

Catalog

The exhibition catalog for the show features all works shown in the exhibition, a curatorial essay and a collection of dialogues between the artists and contemporary Caribbean writers including Kei Miller (in conversation with Leasho Johnson), Rosamond King (in conversation with Natalie Wood), Shivanee Ramlochan (in conversation with Devan Shimoyama), Alexis Pauline Gumbs (in conversation with Ada Patterson) and Anton Nimblett (in conversation with Llanor Alleyne, whose artwork appears on the cover). Ronald Cummings introduces the collection of dialogues.

This program is part of the Continuum: Uniting Queer Artists Across Time series, a partnership program between The American LGBTQ+ Museum and the Leslie Lohman Museum of Art that serves as a dynamic bridge, connecting the impactful works of historical LGBTQ+ artists and creators with the vibrant expressions of contemporary LGBTQ+ artists. Through curated exhibitions, talks, panels, performances, and more, Continuum invites you to witness the threads of connection that weave our past and present together through art and creativity.

Host or Publisher Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art