What caused the destruction of man?
February 15, 2010
Trinidad J’ouvert 2010,
Artist Adele Todd public performance at Trinidad’s j’ouvert 2010 in her work, “What caused the End of the World”
This year I chose to go further into mas not seen much anymore. To understand how to portray ‘the box’ I spoke with Pearl Gomez-James on her memories. She was extremely insightful, and with a few alterations…no live cat for example… I pressed on with the creation of my performance.
It is an essential part of the portrayal to include the text, “What caused the destruction of man?” This gets the audience to become curious to look inside the box that is being held aloft.
A man looking inside the box which caused the End of the World
Indeed I was more than pleasantly surprised that again people interacted with my costume in many ways. Some people assumed that they already had the answer and told me. For example, some people blurted out that woman was the cause or man was the cause of destruction. Others said that they were afraid and uncertain about peering into the box, and others still, were eager to see what the experience was as soon as they read the sign. I was honestly oblivious to ‘the box’ as sexual reference until I was approached by men who snickered and laughed aloud at the sign and the box itself.Unlike last year, this portrayal encouraged more familiarity with my person and I had to be quite firm to say no thank you, when someone wanted to push up on me. But fortunately this was not often.
The Groovy Soca Monarch for 2010 is Sherwayne Winchester, and he won with a song called Murder. For his presentation, he had women dressed in negligees and one very rotund woman, who moved very well. The whole thing unravels taste wise very rapidly, ending with the woman jumping on him and killing him.
Adele Todd 