The Tribune (Nassau), August 16, 2006

‘The distance between what we have and what we want’

Perhaps one of the most ruggedly beautiful places on earth, with mist-covered fjords and crystal glaciers rising to the heavens, awe-inspiring black bears and reindeer, Alaska remains one of the few spots on the planet that, though inhabited and often exploited for its rich natural resources, man has been unable to completely dominate.

Out of this sometimes hostile environment of snow covered mountain tops and icy-cold rivers, a block of ice – at 4.5 tonnes, four feet by six feet, huge, cold, and a rock solid mass – was carved out of a river bed and transported to what might be Alaska’s exact geographical opposite – Nassau, Bahamas.

Like Matthew Henson, the first African-American to reach the north pole, Tavares Strachan, sculptor, artist, Bahamian, journeyed into the heart of the Alaskan ice-scape to oversee the excavation of a block of ice that would later stand in the courtyard of the Albury Sayles Primary School – “The Distance Between What We Have and What We Want” is a testament to modern day engineering and the creative vision of a man whose potential as an artist – though his work has already been recognized – remains unhampered and boundless.

Housed in a box made of metal and glass, the ice sits on the back porch of the primary school in the same pallet it traveled on from Alaska.

Standing at the front of the sculpture and peering in for a closer look at something both so ordinary – it’s just frozen water after all – yet used to represent ideas that not only impact the Bahamas, but the world, the dynamics involved in What Tavares did – transporting a solid block of ice – begins to weigh on the audience.

A second, sustained look at the ice reveals a tiny creature unlucky enough to have been caught in the river during a deep freeze – locked inside. The species remains caught in a time warp of sorts, never deteriorating – as long as the ice remains solid – yet never to live again – completely unaware that it has been transplanted thousands of miles to the south.

Launched July 27 and scheduled to remain until August 27, part of the exhibition, both in function and artistically, involves a guard standing watch over the ice. Decked out in a uniform similar to what members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force wear – and in fact other officers across the Caribbean Commonwealth also wear, an array of medals along his left shoulder represent each of the schools that Tavares has visited and given a lecture.

Keeper

The guard, Tavares said, is like a gate keeper, a sentry of sorts, a mediator between two worlds – reminding viewers that the exhibition is not a trinket commonly found along the shores of the Bahamas, but is a foreign entity.

Complete with a spiked helmet, light blue tunic and black trousers with a solid yellow strip along the side, the guard stands – 24 hours – watching over ice. The colours in the guard’s uniform are symbolic of the Bahamas, clear blue waters, the ebony richness of her people, golden sunshine and sandy beaches. But there is s till more represented here – something for Tavares as well – a collaboration with his mother, Louis Strachan, who, when Tavares as growing up, worked as a seamstress.

Asked why a block of ice, Tavares said that rarely do you run into a perfect square in nature. The block of ice, with its smooth sides and perfectly lines – is an oddity of sorts when one reflects on the haphazard shapes, not only in nature generally, but that are found floating in Alaskan rivers, lakes and the waters of the arctic.

For the exhibition to remain, however, certain things must connect with it – to give it life, along with the ice, there is the inverter which converts the information gathered through the solar panels into electricity, which is then pumped into the freezer unit – the metal and glass box that both protects the ice from the elements, preserving it, and also allows the public to look at the ice and get a true sense of how huge and icy cold it is. Each element is necessary for the existence of the exhibition.

With a degree in glass, Tavares, said, the material informs a lot of his ideas, and serves, in this exhibition, as a good reference of a real, cold, invisible barrier.

Engineering

With considerable engineering technology involved in supporting the project, Tavares said that his use of the discipline of engineering comes out of his interest in the field – but is also a means to an end – the ice project could not have happed without the ability to sustain the ice as close to its original form over a long period of time.

During the opening ceremony, attended by Minister of Transport Glenys Hanna-Martin, supporters of Tavares and art enthusiasts, both Bahamian and foreign-born, were in attendance. Following this exhibition, Tavares expects to participate in a number of shows in New York and Florida.

The son of Edmund and Louise Strachan, and one of six boys, Tavares said that his project is like a living organism and that he has to be here to monitor it.

A recent graduate of Yale University, the current exhibition is part of his “post-school” work and, according to Tavares, he is enjoying the moment. He is also scheduled to start work shortly on a space satellite project, where he will be working with Russian Space officials.

Tavares also holds a bachelors degree from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Talking about the inspiration for “The Distance Between…” Tavares said that some of it came from the study of geography, particularly how it relates to the poles. The birthplace of the ice – Alaska, and its current home, the Bahamas, are polar opposites.

Alaska, with its huge land mass – twice the size of Texas – has a population of only 663,661, with some parts a desert of sorts – a canvas of snow and ice – little can survive when the elements rage and the cold grips the earth. The Bahamas however is not just green and thriving, but hot, sticky, with life springing up everywhere and anywhere, although this appears less a testament of strength and the will to survive, than happenstance, an evolutionary whim perhaps.

The transportation of the ice from one geographic location to another resembles the idea of displacement, Tavares said, “the gap between who you are when you are in Nassau, and who you are when you leave the island.” The same thing with the ice, though encased in solid protective material, it sits in a hostile environment – as people gaze on wondering whether it will survive – being maintained in a manmade freezer that duplicates the cold conditions of its origins.

A third parallel can be found in the artist himself. A boy from the heart of a warm weather paradise, visiting the harsher, colder side of a winter-bound landscape. “As an artist, people want only to have genuine responsibility, I don’t want to be burdened by that. If you look at the trajectory of art, sculpture, people want to find meaning in a different way. Physical things have a just cause – in terms of their right to exist – two dimensional things, we don’t expect anything from them.”

YOLAND DELEVEAUX