Artistic Flair
The Davidoff Art Initiative (DAI) has announced the 2016 launch of the second Davidoff Limited art edition, featuring a specially commissioned video work by artist Olivia McGilchrist. The DAI will offer an exclusive preview of the single-channel video, titled ‘from Many Sides’.
As a Jamaican-french artist and videographer, Olivia McGilchrist’s work is rooted in a Caribbean-centered, multi-media art practice that couples new technology with local platforms to explore contemporary cultural connections from the African Diaspora.
By interweaving moving images and sounds, the artist suffuses the natural world with new meanings and colors that capture profound narratives about the history of the Caribbean. ‘from Many Sides’ utilises digitised renderings to create an immersive, multi-sensory experience that blends landscapes, cultures, stories and people of the Caribbean region and highlights the rich heritage of the region through a variety of content unique to local experiences, reworked and presented as an interactive work of art.
“My recent creative practice is deeply inspired by a longing to reconnect with my birth land as well as the cultural space of the Caribbean,” said McGilchrist, who was born in Jamaica and moved to Europe when she was three.
“My education abroad awarded me the opportunity to learn new media technology platforms but I also had access to local art hubs and traditional artistic practices when I returned home to Jamaica. Because of the duality on my experiences, I aspire to create artwork that overturns biographical or social expectations through a Caribbean-centered, multi- media arts practice.”
Davidoff has an established history of engaging artists and designers for special editions. Launched in 2012, the Davidoff art initiative was designed to build more visibility and recognition for art and artists in the Caribbean. In addition to offering residencies and grants for various artists, as well as organising dialogues to garner appreciation for Caribbean art, the Dai produced the first Limited art edition cigar box in 2014, featuring the work of Cuban-born artist Quisqueya Henríquez.
“Davidoff is continuously looking for new ways to engage with and support contemporary art. The Limited art edition supports the Dai’s mission of familiarising the international audience with artists from the Caribbean and it helps fund the Davidoff art initiative at the same time,” said Hans-Kristian hoejsgaard, Ceo Oettinger Davidoff AG.
“Olivia’s video work is a fascinating visual blend of regionally specific Elements. Because crafting and blending are the same values at the heart of everything we do, we feel that Davidoff is perfectly matched with this extraordinary artist.”