Laas / Absan / Peldía: Caribbean Cinema Cultures

About the Exhibition

How do you mourn a film?

Cinema in the Caribbean is haunted by experiences of loss and absence. Since the invention of cinematic technologies in the late 19th century, Caribbean nations have aspired to establish film industries in adverse conditions—slavery, colonialism, climate crisis, and economic developmentalism. The preservation of moving image works in the region has also suffered, resulting in a catalog of lost films and many gaps in the cinematic canon. These missing/absent works are mourned by film practitioners, archivists, and fans alike. Representation of the Caribbean region and its people in popular cinemas, such as Hollywood, is also a cause for grief. Racist depictions, propaganda, and exploitation of land and communities raise questions about how we can critically engage with existing media. Images can cause harm—do all images need to be seen? At the same time, cinema helps us save memories of those who are no longer with us.

The artists featured in Laas / Absan / Peldía: Caribbean Cinema Cultures have engaged with this inherent sense of loss and mourning. The exhibition’s title Laas / Absan / Peldía refers to the notion of loss or absence, stylized in Jamaican Patwah/Guyanese Creole, Haitian Kreyòl, and dialects of the Hispanic Caribbean. The exhibition flows through Caribbean cinema cultures as shared, though distinct, experiences.

Laas / Absan / Peldía is also inspired by recurring conversations around the so-called “death of cinema.” These debates occur during times of rapid technological innovation that have come to define cinema in its approximately 130-year history. The invention of synchronized sound, color, television, video, digital media, internet streaming, and now artificial intelligence have all resulted in discussions about why we strive to protect the magic of movies. Is cinema dead? Is it still with us? Or is it undead?

Laas / Absan / Peldía: Caribbean Cinema Cultures is organized by the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University and curated by Dalina A. Perdomo Álvarez, assistant curator; Pedro Noel Doreste Rodríguez, assistant professor of film studies at MSU; and Diaspora Solidarities Lab fellows Zoe Butler, KV Bailey, Luis Prieto, and Nehemías Toro Padrón. Support for this series is provided by the MSU Federal Credit Union.

This exhibition is the result of collaborative research produced by the Manchineel Project, a microlab of the Diaspora Solidarities Lab, a Black feminist-led partnership between Johns Hopkins University and the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College. The Diaspora Solidarities Lab is made possible with financial support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.