In anticipation of the (now virtual) New York Caribbean Week and the annual Labor Day Parade, this A

In anticipation of the (now virtual) New York Caribbean Week and the annual Labor Day Parade, this August we’re highlighting artworks in the Museum’s collection that celebrate the presence of Caribbean culture and its diasporas.Where is history housed? In toy sabers, baby dolls, silhouettes of Queens, or in a diamond? Koh-i-noor is one of three portraits by Hew Locke of Queen Elizabeth II that repurposes an iconic image of the British crown through an assemblage of mass produced plastic objects. Locke, who was born in Edinburgh and raised in newly independent Guyana, explores themes of diaspora, globalization, and the complexities of national identity.The title of this artwork refers to the Koh-i-noor (Mountain of Light) diamond which passed through empires and dynasties of Sikh, Mughal and Persia as a symbol of power and conquest. The Koh-i-noor entered the British Crown Jewel collection in 1877 in the wake of the British government’s proclamation of Queen Victoria as the Empress of India. Weaving together the material excess of the global economy and its colonial roots, Locke creates a material geography and archive of something lost. However, the dismemberment and assemblage of the iconic image through fragments also paints a site of possibility. Koh-i-noor invites us to reimagine new landscapes of memory that speak back to and move beyond geographies of domination. Posted by Akane OkoshiHew Locke (Scottish, born 1959). Koh-i-noor, 2005. Mixed media. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Charles Diamond and bequest of Richard J. Kempe, by exchange, 2007.54. © artist or artist’s estate (Photo: Photograph courtesy of the artist and Hales Gallery) -- source link
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