RAS EDDY JOHN The first time Eddy showed us one of his works, we were sitting, six of us boys, on the downstairs staircase of his two-storey home. He lived there with his mother (Aunty Leaf to all the children in the neighbourhood) and her brother Cuthbert. The drawing Eddy showed us depicted an old slave kneeling in the style of the “Ain’t I a man and a brother” image popular in the annals of American history. He then ran upstairs and came back with a poem he had written about his/our slave ancestors. We crowded around the piece of paper he held towards the window for light. As he read the poem, we listened with awe etched on our faces. Up until then, the only other person we had seen draw or paint images was a policeman nicknamed Harry Begas, from Virgin Lane who painted landscape scenes with coconut trees. Though we all agreed that he was a good painter, we never saw him paint anything else. One day we went up to the river to bathe at the local swimming hole we called “Under Power”. The place got its name because of the hydro generator positioned right above it. On that day, Eddy suggested we all bring home large stones to carve. We all picked out stones, and when we reached home we all crowded into his small backyard to carve faces into the stones. I carved a face, and Eddy carved a face, but I don’t remember which of our other friends carved faces. Eddy showed me his finished carving about a week later. I never saw the carving after that day. I carved mine, but when I looked at it, I could not claim the face in the stone. I put the heavy stone in my pocket and walked back up to the river. When I reached the middle of the Roseau bridge on the way to Under Power, I dropped the carved stone over the side and watched it disappear into the current. From then on, Eddy and I drew pictures, painted, wrote poetry and got involved in drama and dance. Then on August 8, 1975, I left for Canada. Eddy stayed at home. On the verandah of his two-storey home, he painted life as he saw it around him. Under the label “Rain Art Productions” he created images which reflected his interest in traditional folklore, cultural and political issues and his mystical spiritualism. In 1984, I returned to Dominica with a post-secondary art education. I met Eddy still painting, writing, drawing and now sculpting. A brother with a vision, a visualist in an Afro-Euro tradition, a cultural worker. He was now more developed, treading paths that I was seeking to find. I then wondered at the use of my Western education. I left again and returned to Canada. In 1986 I invited Eddy to visit me in Winnipeg, on the plains in Canada. He brought with him an exhibition of the current Dominican painters. We showed at Plug In Galleries Inc. in August 1986. I visited Eddy again in Dominica in January 1990. I spent the time at his home working and talking. In 1991 I returned to Dominica with my family, but Eddy had traveled to England to find his father, about a week before we arrived. In August 1996, Eddy passed from the flesh into his spirit, a victim of complications brought on by Sickle Cell Anemia. For me, Eddy’s life is an example of life lived. Eddy’s life, his visual legacy, his efforts in painting, drama, drawing, theatre, dance and poetry, I will remember. Gomo36
Posted on: Fri, 04 Oct 2013 15:13:53 +0000
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