Monkey pot and mandala, bat and ball....

Extracts from "The Dream of the Monkey Pot Tree(2025)" by Cosmata Lindie (L); and "Laced in Victory (2025)" by Maharani Jhillu (R) 


 (Moray House Trust is hosting 'Beyond the boundary: what is art?" until Sat 20th Sept, 2025 11am to 2pm each day ) 

 Monkey Pot and Mandala 

There is cricket playing on the phone on the desk. The cricket fan explains that 'Warriors playing '. I had no idea really since I don't follow cricket but I like to watch people watch cricket. 

Moray House Trust is hosting a second exhibition related to cricket. They  sent bats and balls this year 'throughout the land' and invited artists to create pieces. The exhibition invokes the writings of CLR James. 

The pieces are all fascinating, with different representations of cricket's importance to Guyana. The exhibition has artists from different backgrounds, located in different parts of the country. I could imagine that some of them voted differently in the recent elections.

Some of the artists use images of cricket on the bat and balls - players (mostly male players I saw, none female) and energy of the game. But Cosmata Lindie though, used monkey pots to form a female figure on one bat. On the other side, the monkey pot is a vessel throwing water.

I liked how Maharani Jhillu used the lace like patterns on the ball, based on the Indian mandala tradition. Lace is not a material normally associated with cricket.  

 Bat and ball 

The piece from Tammy Walker reflects that some of us didn't play 'cricket'. We played 'bat and ball' or just 'played ball' . 

Extract from "Cricket in the Country (2025)" by Tammy Walker

 One piece shows the tiredness after a game, and swinging on a tire. Other pieces represent the energies and emotions of the game in different ways. Alyce Cameron invokes the meaning of indigo on her bat.

beyond the boundaries ..

Extract from "Echoes of the Wild (2025)" by Ransford Simon

 

Jorge Bowen-Forbes questions the existence of national boundaries on his bat. Cosmata Lindie's bat goes into the fantastical world as I think some of  others do as part of going beyond the boundary. 

Ransford Simon invokes the spirit of Amazon into the 'Warriors' - a post-colonial kickback when now the old time 'Gentleman's Game' is now given a spirit of what was considered 'ungentlemanly' and 'uncivilised'. 

These days I not sure if the name of a team has 'Guyana' in it, if it has anything to do with the boundaries set by colonial powers a long time ago. 

The 'Guyana Amazon Warriors' is led by a man who so far is not a citizen of Guyana. 

Maybe the boundaries will not matter soon in other instances as last elections, nuff people from 'Commonwealth' voted and I wonder where their cricket loyalties are...

In the minibus coming home from the exhibition, I sit in the back seat between a man from Colombia who looking for a place to rent; and a man from Cuba. 

I wonder if they would learn about cricket. Or not.

 

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