PALM HEIGHTS
CARNIVAL 2023 

Much of the Caribbean maintains carnival traditions that reflect the particular mixing and hybridization of European, African and Indigenous influences that have shaped Caribbean culture. It is the hybridity of sounds, visual aesthetics and embodied practices that inform the frequencies of the music, the dance steps, the look and feel of the costumes and design of the floats.  The performance and visual art that comes out of Carnival is public art, for and by the people and establishes clear ties with the traditions of the ancestors, those that came before and our present moment.

Palm Heights engages with the depth and breadth of Carnival tradition within a contemporary format that allows for an exploration of the ways that carnival is pertinent across the diaspora and continues to shapeshift and reflect the realities of contemporary life. 

Emeka Ogboh and Raúl de Nieves were invited to create floats for the procession that would serve as mobile sculptures, sets for the carnival dancers and revelers, locations to inspire release, liberation and rebirth, key tenets of any carnival celebration. The traditional regalia was subverted while still reflecting the myths, folklore, masquerade and procession from their respective cultures.  

Emeka Ogboh, originally from Enugu, Nigeria and based between Berlin and Lagos, contributed a concept that referenced the history of masquerade in his country, as well as the traditional Akwete, the intricately hand-woven fabrics. Ogboh's piece explored the Igbo culture and traditions and became a kind of hyper-adorned public square or mobile village that floated down the road and hosted the festive dancers. As the float gracefully traversed the carnival route, it became a vessel carrying the timeless narratives of a people-- a living tableau, inviting onlookers to immerse themselves in the intricate tapestry of Igbo traditions. The artist's goal was to transcend the ephemeral nature of the carnival, ascending to the realm of a timeless symphony—an ode to the interconnectivity of human experiences, uniting hearts and minds in a joyous exploration of heritage, tradition, and the unwavering power of artistic expression.

Raúl de Nieves, originally from Mexico but based in New York City, is a multimedia artist with a wide-ranging practice that investigates notions of beauty and transformation. His visual symbolism draws on both classical Catholic and Mexican vernacular motifs to create his own unique mythology. De Nieves’ characteristically opulent techniques draw from traditional decorative arts, religious iconography, mythology, folktales, carnival, Mexican tradition and drag culture in order to explore the transformational possibilities of adornment and the mutability of gender, sexuality and identity.

Speaking specifically to ideas of rebirth and regeneration that come out of the carnival ecstasy, Raúl de Nieves created a float that appears almost like a precious jewel box. The panels of the float are ‘stained glass’ made entirely by hand, utilizing everyday objects.  The colorful panels cast light and shadow upon the revelers inspiring awe and spiritual awakening.  The other panels are a recreation of the artist’s monumental work The Book of Hours which puts a loop to the intimate illustrations of Medieval religious texts designed to guide prayer and induce spiritual connection.  By scaling up his Book of Hours painting to a monumental degree– at this size the cast of macabre characters, including skeletons, joined by vibrant frogs and ears of corn, symbols of fertility and abundance all move together in a processional ritual, the artist created a new convening site for symbolic transition to the afterlife— the sparkle and shine of embellishment and regalia, the bending and twisting of the agony and ecstasy of life and death. The work is an invocation of our potential to transform through masquerade. The Float speaks to ideas of dissolution, decay, and rebirth – the menageries of figures take turns dancing with death. The float itself becomes a kind of reliquary to hold our most sacred and profane, a site for ritual transcendence through both the agony and ecstasy of the carnival, a writing rhythmic overview of both the order and chaos of our spiritual journey.