The Making of a Caribbean Avant-Garde: Postmodernism as Post-Nationalism

The strongest parts of the book are those where she engages frankly with the environment in which she has worked for several decades: for instance, her examination of three influential artist-run spaces and their context-Alice Yard in Trinidad, Fresh Milk in Barbados, and, to a lesser extent, Popopstudios in the Bahamas-lucidly analyzes the dynamics between these organizations and other cultural institutions and initiatives in each context and provides valuable insights into the Caribbean art ecology. Hadchity's sources are almost all associated with the contemporary art scene, and since she has professional access to a wide range of artists, especially in Barbados, the question arises why she did not also document the views and concerns of those artists who were allegedly displaced by the new generation, as this would have allowed a more wholesome understanding of this troubled intergenerational dynamic. Hadchity also assumes a lot of preexisting knowledge of the local art scenes on the part of her readers; more contextual information would have made this book more accessible to international readers who are not familiar with the Caribbean art world.