Troubled Waters: Ecology and History in 21st-Century Caribbean Art will explore the ways in which 21st-century Caribbean artists address the environmental consequences of a history of mismanagement of the islands’ coasts and surrounding sea. Through an analysis of a variety of artistic projects, the study examines the growing role of the region’s artists in environmental debate. The analysis of their works (many of which incorporate materials drawn from the sea as artistic material) will serve as an entry into the rich expressive possibilities open to 21st-century Caribbean environmental artists and the theories that underpin their work. These photographs, paintings, and installations metaphorically underscore how Caribbean nations and peoples have been marked by their proximity to and dependence on the sea.
Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert works in the fields of literature, ecocriticism, art history, and cultural studies, specializing in the multidisciplinary, comparative study of the Caribbean. She is the author of a number of books, among them Phyllis Shand Allfrey: A Caribbean Life (Rutgers University Press, 1996), Jamaica Kincaid: A Critical Companion (Greenwood, 1999), Creole Religions of the Caribbean (New York University Press, 2003, with Margarite Fernández Olmos), and Literature of the Caribbean (Greenwood, 2008). She teaches in the Hispanic studies department and the environmental studies program at Vassar College.