A rare and significant exhibition of contemporary Caribbean art is currently captivating audiences at the Remai Modern in Saskatoon, Canada. "Land. Sea. Sugar. Salt.: Terrestrial and Aquatic Contemporary Contemplations of the Caribbean" presents a powerful collection of works that challenge conventional notions of tropical escapism while exploring the complex histories and contemporary realities of the Caribbean region and its diaspora.
The exhibition, which runs through August 17, represents an uncommon institutional commitment to Caribbean art. Curated by Caribbean-Canadians Michelle Jacques and Sally Frater, both affiliated with the Remai Modern, the show brings together artists from the Caribbean region and its diaspora to examine the interconnected histories that have shaped these communities. The curators' approach reflects a deep understanding of the region's complexities, moving beyond superficial tropical imagery to address more profound themes of colonialism, environmental change, and cultural identity.
At the heart of the exhibition stands Deborah Jack's stunning multi-channel video installation "the fecund, the lush, and the salted land waits for a harvest—her people—ripe with promise, wait until the next blowing season" (2022). Originally commissioned for the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago's "Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s—Today," Jack's work serves as an emotional anchor for the entire exhibition. The piece features a stirring violin soundtrack that draws viewers into scenes of crashing waves and swirling sea foam, creating an atmosphere of solemn contemplation. Jack masterfully juxtaoses archival black and white documentary footage of the salt-mining industry in Sint Maarten, her mother's home island, with present-day technicolor images of pomegranate trees, while lines of poetry about sky, sea, and salt appear on cut mirrored vinyl surfaces.
The exhibition's sophisticated curatorial approach becomes evident in how Jacques and Frater choreograph works by different participants as duos and trios, creating meaningful dialogues that can only emerge in a group exhibition setting. Among the most compelling pieces are installations by Caribbean-Canadian artists Braxton Garneau and Kara Springer, whose hybrid aesthetic forms explore themes of displacement and environmental transformation. Garneau's "Pay Dirt" (2025) creates a striking visual connection between Alberta's tailing ponds and Trinidad's Pitch Lake, highlighting the shared oil-based economies of these distant locations. Set against a dramatic black backdrop, the installation features oversized fishtails and miniature natural asphalt lakes that blur the boundaries between geological formations and museum displays.
Springer's contribution, "The Earth and All Its Inhabitants" (2019), presents a haunting light box image of a ladder standing upright in the Atlantic Ocean near Barbados, where the artist was born. The photograph captures the ladder just moments before it tips back into the water, creating a powerful metaphor for precarity and impermanence. The work addresses Springer's ongoing exploration of armature systems and structural support, with the light box strapped to a palette to emphasize these themes of stability and vulnerability.
The exhibition gains additional resonance through its connection to recent Caribbean history, particularly the devastating impact of hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, which severely damaged both Dutch Sint Maarten and French Saint Martin. The presence of coastlines throughout many of the works recalls scholar Christina Sharpe's concept of "wake work," drawing attention to how contemporary hurricane surge patterns mirror historical transatlantic slave trade routes. This connection reveals ongoing colonial dynamics in emergency response and recovery efforts while complicating romanticized notions of tropical paradise.
Several other artists contribute significant works that enhance the exhibition's exploration of Caribbean identity and environmental concerns. Video installations by Las Nietas de Nonó and Carolina Caycedo demonstrate what curators describe as "survivance" – a term borrowed from Anishinaabe scholar Gerald Vizenor – found in ancestral knowledge systems. These works contrast the sadness and grief over environmental instability with the resilience found in traditional ways of knowing and being.
The exhibition also features compelling photo-based pieces by established artists Hew Locke and Giana De Dier, whose works focus on Guyanese and Barbadian vernacular architecture respectively. These pieces complement Jack's video installation by providing additional layers of psychogeographic remapping that collapses time and reveals both historical fractures and ongoing legacies. The careful positioning of these works creates visual and conceptual dialogues that enhance the overall impact of the exhibition.
Andrea Chung's installation "Sink and Swim" (2013/2025) adds another dimension to the show's exploration of Caribbean history and contemporary reality. Created with materials including sugar, fishing line, fishing hooks, nuts, bolts, and references to "revolution and time," Chung's work directly addresses the historical foundations of Caribbean society while questioning contemporary conditions.
The success of "Land. Sea. Sugar. Salt." builds upon Jacques and Frater's previous collaborative achievements at the Remai Modern, including their work with the Art Gallery of Ontario to organize the first touring retrospective of late Trinidadian-Canadian painter Denyse Thomasos, which received widespread critical acclaim. While some works in the current exhibition appeared in Frater's previous show "Kept Alive Within Us" at the Art Gallery of Guelph in 2023, the Remai Modern presentation demonstrates a more focused and cohesive curatorial vision.
The exhibition's deliberately lengthy title may represent a subtle critique of ethnographic studies with their traditionally protracted names, offering a way to challenge the colonial and exploitative approaches that have long characterized non-Caribbean perspectives on the region. However, with both curators being Caribbean-Canadian themselves, the title also serves to establish the comprehensive scope of their investigation into terrestrial and aquatic themes that define Caribbean experience.
By exploring what it means to maintain connections to "there" while living "here," the exhibition addresses the complex emotions and experiences of diaspora communities. The show demonstrates how contemporary Caribbean artists are creating sophisticated visual languages to address environmental precarity, cultural memory, and the ongoing effects of colonialism. Rather than presenting the Caribbean as an exotic destination for escape, these artists reveal the region as a complex space of survival, resistance, and creative transformation.
"Land. Sea. Sugar. Salt.: Terrestrial and Aquatic Contemporary Contemplations of the Caribbean" continues at the Remai Modern through August 17, offering visitors a rare opportunity to engage with contemporary Caribbean art at an institutional level. The exhibition stands as a testament to the power of curatorial vision rooted in community knowledge and the importance of supporting diverse voices in contemporary art discourse.
