SAN­DRA L BLOOD

mindup.slblood@gmail.com

Through its Artist Dis­cov­ery Pro­gram (ADP), Roy­al Caribbean In­ter­na­tion­al (RCI) launched a search in March for art­work to bring the Caribbean spir­it to life on its newest cruise ship–Icon of the Seas.

The ves­sel is cur­rent­ly docked in Cadiz, Spain, where fin­ish­ing touch­es are be­ing done in prepa­ra­tion for its maid­en voy­age on Jan­u­ary 27, 2024, from Port­Mi­a­mi in the Unit­ed States.

CEO and pres­i­dent Michael Bay­ley ex­plained that the Caribbean is where RCT got their start more than 50 years ago, so it is on­ly fit­ting to be­gin its search with artists from the Caribbean.

For the project, Caribbean artists were com­mis­sioned to paint nine large-scale mu­rals in three high­ly vis­i­ble lo­ca­tions: the Roy­al Prom­e­nade Neigh­bour­hood, the Icon’s main en­trance, and the Suite Neigh­bour­hood.

T&T artist Ja­son Hospedales was made aware of the com­pe­ti­tion by his neigh­bour Charles Car­val­ho, founder of T&T Sight­see­ing Tours. Hospedales said the no­tice came at a very cru­cial time of his life, and he is very grate­ful.

“I was the very first artist from the Caribbean to sub­mit work, and I feel ho­n­oured to have im­pressed the Roy­al Caribbean team es­pe­cial­ly as their CEO told me that they liked my work and bio very much,” he said.

The op­por­tu­ni­ty was time­ly as he had just fin­ished his fourth so­lo ex­hi­bi­tion, Gen­der.

Hospedales said he was one of two Caribbean win­ners among the artists world­wide on the project. The oth­er is Haiti’s Philippe Do­dard.

He is be­ing as­sist­ed with his mur­al, I Am In You, You Are In Me, by his wife, Al­i­son Suzette Sam­path, and vi­su­al artist Nicole Tang.

Cas­cade-born Hospedales, who counts among his men­tors Coren­sa Os­una, Makem­ba Kun­le, and LeRoy Clarke, said, “My can­vas was my soul, the var­i­ous forms, an out­pour­ing of my in­trin­sic spir­it. Car­ni­val arts and the echoes of the Mid­dle Pas­sage found res­o­nance in my work, stitch­ing to­geth­er the ta­pes­try of her­itage.”

A mul­ti­me­dia artist, he cre­ates his art­work from pa­per, ce­ment, clay, paint, wire and oth­er ma­te­ri­als, craft­ing tex­tured lay­ers in­to colour­ful cre­ations.

“Many of my group ex­hi­bi­tions bear tes­ta­ment to my prowess. Apart from four so­lo shows in 2017, 2019, 2021 and this year, my artis­tic pil­grim­age bridges cul­tures, mends frac­tures, and weaves bonds. In my cre­ations, I cel­e­brate roots, con­jure uni­ty, and paint bridges across time,” he said.

Icon of the Seas is the world’s largest and most ad­vanced cruise ship to date with a ca­pac­i­ty for 7,600 pas­sen­gers and a crew of 2,350.