Key facts

Single-screen video work, photographic portfolio and book chapter

1 Main output: Face Up (2015), a single-screen video work, comprising six, silent fictional scenes using stop-animation 

2 Photographic portfolio: Face Up: Life and Transgressive Acts on Screen, in ‘After Indenture: Three Photo Stories’ published in Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism, Vol 21, No 2, July 2017 

3 Book chapter: ‘Urban Candy: Screens, Selfies and Imaginings’, pp301–322 in Willis, D, Toscano, E, and Brooks Nelson K, (eds), Women and Migration: Responses in Art and History (OpenBook, 2019, Cambridge, UK)

ROLES

Creative director, researcher, artist, scholar

COLLABORATION

Adam Hoyle, software programmer/designer, was commissioned to produce screen-based artwork and Erica Masserano to write fictional text for screen-based animation

VENUES 

In Ghosts: Keith Piper/Roshini Kempadoo, Lethaby Gallery, Central Saint Martins, London N1, UK, November 27–December 11, 2015 

In Black Portraiture(s) II: Imaging the Black Body and Restaging Histories, Villa La Pietra, NYU Florence, Italy, May 28 – August 15, 2015 In Un|Fixed Homeland, Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, New Jersey, USA, July 17– September 23, 2016

 In Visual Arts After Indenture, York University, Toronto, Canada, March 19, 2016

COMMISSIONED BY

Paul Goodwin, guest curator for Lethaby Gallery

Grace Ali, guest curator for Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, New Jersey, USA

Andil Gosine, director of Visual Arts After Indenture project, Toronto, Canada

Deborah Willis, Ellyn Toscano and Kalia Brooks Nelson, editors of Women and Migration project, New York/Florence

FUNDING

Lethaby Gallery, London (installation, publicity) – £500

York University, Canada/Small Axe projects (flight/accommodation, stipend and reproduction fee for portfolio) – £1,600

NYU (flight, accommodation, stipend) – £1,000

CreatorsKempadoo, R.
Description

Kempadoo’s research focused on smartphone imagery in order to reflect multicultural urban life and the experiences of the diasporised self, addressing imagery deploying smartphone aesthetics in artistic production. Overheard dialogue on
smartphones shaped the diasporic story lines, and led to technical research with a programmer in order to develop a
novel visual approach. The methodological approach explored in written form considers the seductive, hypervisualised
space of self and screen associated with the city, as a perpetual line of sight, a physical and virtual urban experience and environment. Central to this space is the racialised and diasporised networked body on the move, precarious in her condition and affective in the performative encounter with herself and others. These insights developed across the visual/written artwork reflect London as a supercity in which migration for work opportunities or to escape danger abroad is commonplace yet, for many, remains precarious. Exhibition venues included Lethaby Gallery, Central Saint Martins (2015), Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, New Jersey (2016) and others.

Portfolio itemsGhosts: Keith Piper/Roshini Kempadoo
Urban Candy: Screens, Selfies and Imaginings
After Indenture: Three Photo Stories Roshini Kempadoo; Sharlene Khan; Wendy Nanan
Year2015
PublisherUniversity of Westminster
Web address (URL)https://vimeo.com/376952122
KeywordsCREAM Portfolio
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.34737/qq895
File

Portfolio items

Ghosts: Keith Piper/Roshini Kempadoo
Kempadoo, R. 2015. Ghosts: Keith Piper/Roshini Kempadoo.

Urban Candy: Screens, Selfies and Imaginings
Kempadoo, R. 2019. Urban Candy: Screens, Selfies and Imaginings. in: Willis, Deborah, Toscano, Ellyn and Brooks Nelson, Kalia (ed.) Women and Migration: Responses in Art and History Cambridge, UK OpenBook Publishers. pp. 301 - 322

After Indenture: Three Photo Stories Roshini Kempadoo; Sharlene Khan; Wendy Nanan
Kempadoo, R. 2017. After Indenture: Three Photo Stories Roshini Kempadoo; Sharlene Khan; Wendy Nanan. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/07990537-4156846

Related outputs

My Daughter's Mind (1984/5) and Presence (1990) in Women in Revolt: Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990)
Kempadoo, R. 2024. My Daughter's Mind (1984/5) and Presence (1990) in Women in Revolt: Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990). Tate Britain 08 Nov 2023 - 07 Apr 2024

Changing Spaces (1992) and Kissing Life Better (2023) in The World that Belongs to Us
Kempadoo, R. 2023. Changing Spaces (1992) and Kissing Life Better (2023) in The World that Belongs to Us. Walsall, West Midlands 24 Nov 2023 - 09 Jun 2024

Changing Spaces (1992) and Kissing Life Better (2023) in The World that Belongs to Us
Kempadoo, R. 2023. Changing Spaces (1992) and Kissing Life Better (2023) in The World that Belongs to Us. Walsall, West Midlands 24 Nov 2023 - 09 Jun 2024

A Speculative Approach to the Archive: Itinerant Imaginaries #3
Kempadoo, R. 2023. A Speculative Approach to the Archive: Itinerant Imaginaries #3. Creating Interference Project (CIP).

Women in Revolt! exhibition book
Kempadoo, Roshini Young, Linsey (ed.) 2023. Women in Revolt! exhibition book. Tate Publishing.

Afterlives/Futurelives: Imagining Mermaids and Recalling Ghost Dancing
Kempadoo, R. 2023. Afterlives/Futurelives: Imagining Mermaids and Recalling Ghost Dancing. in: Tatiana Flores, Florencia San Martín and Charlene Villaseñor Black (ed.) The Routledge Companion to Decolonizing Art History New York Routledge. pp. 274-285

Provoking Us to Change the World
Kempadoo, R. 2023. Provoking Us to Change the World. NACLA Report on the Americas. 55 (3), pp. 327-331. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714839.2023.2247778

Like Gold Dust (2019) (selection) in the exhibition Intersectional Geographies
Kempadoo, Roshini 2022. Like Gold Dust (2019) (selection) in the exhibition Intersectional Geographies. Bristol 27 Jan - 03 Apr 2022

28. Being Woke
Kempadoo, Roshini 2022. 28. Being Woke. in: Women and Migration(s) II OpenBook Publishers. pp. 203–210

Itinerant Imaginaries: Seminar series published online
Kempadoo, Roshini 2021. Itinerant Imaginaries: Seminar series published online. British Art Network.

Ghosting (2004) in Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s – Now
Kempadoo, Roshini 2021. Ghosting (2004) in Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s – Now . Tate Britain, London, United Kingdom 01 Dec 2021 - 03 Apr 2022

Ghosting (2004) in Fragments of Epic Memory
Kempadoo, Roshini 2021. Ghosting (2004) in Fragments of Epic Memory. Toronto, Ontario, Canada 01 Sep 2021 - 21 Feb 2022

Digital Media Practice as Critique: Roshini Kempadoo's Installations: Ghosting and Endless Prospects
Kempadoo, Roshini 2021. Digital Media Practice as Critique: Roshini Kempadoo's Installations: Ghosting and Endless Prospects. in: Bailey, D.A. and Thompson, A. (ed.) Liberation Begins In The Imagination: Writings on Caribbean-British Art London Tate Publishing in partnership with International Curators Forum (ICF). pp. 280 - 286

Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s–Now exhibition book
Kempadoo, Roshini 2021. Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s–Now exhibition book. Tate Publishing.

Defining Women Subjects: Photographs in Trinidad (1860s – 1960s)
Kempadoo, Roshini 2021. Defining Women Subjects: Photographs in Trinidad (1860s – 1960s). in: Kempadoo, K. and Deshong, H. (ed.) Methodologies in Caribbean Research on Gender and Sexuality Kingston Ian Randle Publishers. pp. 351-369

Imagining Activism: Black, Gold, Dust
Kempadoo, Roshini 2021. Imagining Activism: Black, Gold, Dust. Kunstlicht. 42 (3/4), pp. 63-68.

Virtual Exiles (2000) and Mooove[s] (2020)
Kempadoo, R. 2020. Virtual Exiles (2000) and Mooove[s] (2020). Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry 13 Oct - 13 Dec 2020

Photobook Review: Maud Sulter: Passion
Kempadoo, R. 2020. Photobook Review: Maud Sulter: Passion. Aperture: the PhotoBook Review. 018.

Like Gold Dust (2019)
Kempadoo, R. 2019. Like Gold Dust (2019). San Antonio, Texas, USA 21 Mar - 20 May 2019

Urban Candy: Screens, Selfies and Imaginings
Kempadoo, R. 2019. Urban Candy: Screens, Selfies and Imaginings. in: Willis, Deborah, Toscano, Ellyn and Brooks Nelson, Kalia (ed.) Women and Migration: Responses in Art and History Cambridge, UK OpenBook Publishers. pp. 301 - 322

Creating Interference & Cream Screen event - Go Back and Get it: Seeking Sankofa, 28 June 2019
Asante, Barby and Kempadoo, Roshini 2018. Creating Interference & Cream Screen event - Go Back and Get it: Seeking Sankofa, 28 June 2019.

Roshini Kempadoo - Ghosting: INDIA - Contemporary Photographic and New Media Art
Kempadoo, Roshini 2018. Roshini Kempadoo - Ghosting: INDIA - Contemporary Photographic and New Media Art. Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, Houston, USA TX 77007 10 Mar - 22 Apr 2018

Roshini Kempadoo - Ghosting Portfolio pages in the 2018 Fotofest Biennial Catalogue - INDIA: Contemporary Photographic and New Media Art
Kempadoo, Roshini 2018. Roshini Kempadoo - Ghosting Portfolio pages in the 2018 Fotofest Biennial Catalogue - INDIA: Contemporary Photographic and New Media Art. in: Gupta, S. and Evans, S. (ed.) INDIA: Contemporary Photographic and New Media Art Houston, USA and Amsterdam, The Netherlands Fotofest Inc. Houston and Schilt Publishing, Amsterdam.

Ghosting: Visualising a Caribbean. FotoFest's INDIA Symposium, 23/24 March 2018
Kempadoo, Roshini 2018. Ghosting: Visualising a Caribbean. FotoFest's INDIA Symposium, 23/24 March 2018. FotoFest's INDIA Symposium. Asia Society Texas Center, 1370 Southmore Blvd, Houston TX 77004 22 - 23 Mar 2018

Creating Interference Project (CIP) online
Kempadoo, Roshini 2018. Creating Interference Project (CIP) online. Creating Interference Project (CIP).

Troubling an Unjust Present: Kareem Mortimer’s Filmmaking ambition for The Bahamas
Kempadoo, Roshini 2017. Troubling an Unjust Present: Kareem Mortimer’s Filmmaking ambition for The Bahamas. Small Axe Net: Visualities.

After Indenture: Three Photo Stories Roshini Kempadoo; Sharlene Khan; Wendy Nanan
Kempadoo, R. 2017. After Indenture: Three Photo Stories Roshini Kempadoo; Sharlene Khan; Wendy Nanan. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/07990537-4156846

Spectres in the Postcolonies: Reimagining Violence and Resistance
Kempadoo, R. 2016. Spectres in the Postcolonies: Reimagining Violence and Resistance. in: Bernier, C.M. and Durkin, H. (ed.) Visualising Slavery: Art Across the African Diaspora Liverpool Liverpool University Press. pp. 48-61

Creole in the Archive: Imagery, Presence and Location of the Caribbean Figure
Kempadoo, R. 2016. Creole in the Archive: Imagery, Presence and Location of the Caribbean Figure. London Rowman & Littlefield.

Ghosts: Keith Piper/Roshini Kempadoo
Kempadoo, R. 2015. Ghosts: Keith Piper/Roshini Kempadoo.

Timings, Canon, and Art History
Kempadoo, R. 2015. Timings, Canon, and Art History. Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism. 19 (2 47), pp. 167-176. https://doi.org/10.1215/07990537-3139298

Gazing Outwards and Looking Back: Configuring Caribbean Visual Culture
Kempadoo, R. 2013. Gazing Outwards and Looking Back: Configuring Caribbean Visual Culture. Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism. 17 (2 (41)), pp. 136-153. https://doi.org/10.1215/07990537-2323364

Imagining Her(story): Engendering archives
Kempadoo, R. 2013. Imagining Her(story): Engendering archives. in: Thornham, H. and Weissmann, E. (ed.) Renewing Feminisms: Radical Narratives, Fantasies and Futures in Media Studies London & New York I.B. Tauris. pp. 84-103

Permalink - https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/portfolio/qq895/face-up-2015


Nana’s story, one of Face Up’s six scenes (or ‘idents’)
Nana’s story, one of Face Up’s six scenes (or ‘idents’)