Esplanade Mall in Grenada: Quality and Inauthenticity

This post is primarily for readers in Grenada. On a recent trip home to Grenada I visited the Esplanade Mall in St. George's where the terminal for the cruise ships is located. Tourists come off the ship directly into the mall where some may shop and return to the ship before ever seeing more of Grenada.
As a light-skinned Grenadian I blended in with the throngs of tourists and viewed the mall through two lenses - one as a local and the other as if I had myself come off the ship.
If you don't read any further than this, here is my point: As the first impression for foreign visitors, the Esplanade Mall has some quality products but is massively inauthentic in representing Grenada. Not to say that Grenada cannot produce quality but the stores that were in the Mall themselves have not tapped into the potential of Grenadian products.
We walked into the mall from town side and passed a Subway on the right as we entered (USA). There was a Rituals coffee shop across from it. Rituals is a Starbucks style coffee chain from Trinidad. There was a Bob Marley licensed dealer in a kiosk in the middle of the mall - yes Bob Marley is part of a Caribbean identity but is in fact Jamaican. There is a store called Ganzee that offers many quality clothing and souveniers almost exclusively produced abroad - stamped with a 'Grenada' and sold in the store as a souvenier. They have a wide array of pirate souveniers - I think this is a strange notion and really didn't see very much of it before Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean. I challenge any tourist to find a local that thinks pirates are figures that represent Grenadian culture and identity. To Ganzee's credit they do sell local products like Grenada Chocolate, albeit for 30% more than you get it in the grocery. There is of course Duty Free shopping where you can buy cheap booze and perfume as well. There is a store featuring inexpensive Haitan art and another that imports products from Indonesia and West Africa. There is a sports store where you can buy US products at Grenadian prices. Some price tags on a pair of Nikes may run up to $500EC (About $200USD). There are a couple jewelry stores that do feature local jewelry and promote the identity of Grenada's indigenous people, the Kalinago.
There was one shop that was thoroughly Grenadian - a smoothie shop that sold fresh smoothies made from fresh produce from Grenada. One of our favorites is the Banana Peanut smoothie. At about 800 calories this is practically a meal replacement shake - tasty and filling.
With China's growing presence in Grenada one would wonder why there isn't a Chinese shop in this international melange of a mall. Only to be reminded grimly China is probably the producer of many of the products that don Grenada's colors as a souvenier.

So - to Grenadians, especially young, creative and enterprising artists and entrepreneurs - Esplanade Mall represents a force that says Grenada cannot produce goods in accordance with its own identity. Esplanade Mall represents foreign retailers taking advantage of Grenadian hesitation in the marketplace. There is beauty and potential in Grenada to produce authentic Grenadian products that when people buy, there are making a conscientious decision that when they visit Grenada - nothing but Grenadian will earn their dollars.

Reproduction: Lessons from the Music Industry

One of my quiet revolutions against the world of high fine art is my case for the legitimacy of reproducing your work for mass appeal and affordability. Many artists feel like reproductions undermine their legitimacy as an artist, somehow cheapens their endeavors and commercialize their work into a world that somehow isn't 'art'. When approached about having a painting printed with giclee on canvas or paper, or a poster made of a painting, or even something more progressive like a laptop or ipod skin - most 'high' artists would be repulsed.

Here is my argument based on the way the music industry works: If artists only ever showed their work in galleries - it would be as if musicians only ever shared their music at concerts. Let me clarify: if music artists treated their music the way some artists treat their work, they would not produce CDs, MP3s, or DVD's. They would not host fan sites or make appearances. If this is the way musicians operated: no one would know who they are. No one would hear their music.

Talking about this idea of 'legitimacy': if you as an artist do not put work into making your work accessible, your work will not be seen and where will the fruit of all your artistic passion be? By accepting this idea of artistic legitimacy - artists are in fact working against their own cause by making their art inaccessible to all but the people that may go into the gallery.

Treating visual art the way the industry treats the musical arts - let's have more dialogue about how an artist can create a social community around their work. Let's talk about producing reproductions so that more people can see the work. Let's talk about events beyond the gallery like spontaneous public art exhibitions. Let's talk about creative ways of distributing art and reaching a market of people who appreciate your work.

When it comes down to it in terms of creating value for your work and for yourself as an artist - the Mona Lisa is as valuable as it is because it is a mass produced image by a well publicized artist and if it was not - then it would have faded into obscurity like many of the artists of his time. Creating an environment where many people can see the work is not undermining to you as an artist - you are creating value for yourself.