“What can I do to make that stone Buddha be seen as a venerable presence that feels more solemn and yet also captivates people’s hearts?” When Yukio Takahashi of the Makomanai Takino Cemetery (Honorary Chairman of the public interest incorporated association Furusato Koen) approached me for advice, sights of the cave temples that I saw on my trips to Ajanta, India, and Dunhuang, China, immediately came to mind. The caves were created artificially by carving out the hard earth. When I stepped inside them, I could not make out the entirety of the caverns because of the darkness.
Ward, who left the Caribbean for Harlem with his family at the age of twelve, has crafted poignant works that pose additional questions such as: What do found items say about humanity? From identity and social justice to consumerism, what narratives do they weave—and what forgotten stories do objects like baby strollers, shoelaces, and glass bottles tell?
In Carol Wainio’s pictorial realm the fabled creatures of Jean de La Fontaine and Aesop, haberdashery-clad rabbits, and children plucked from Victorian illustrated postcards dwell in forests that are part Gustave Doré, part Jean-Antoine Watteau, and are expressionistically rendered.
Far from a neo-noir, the clash between Indigenous culture and oppressive colonial presence in Limbo suggests that the film is closer to a South Australian gothic.
Dance Theatre of Harlem, under new Artistic Director Robert Garland, is definitely looking toward the future. The question, though, is how does it remain connected to twentieth-century icons such as George Balanchine while moving forward?