Christopher Cozier
Christopher Cozier was born and continues to work in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, as a painter, writer, and curator. He explores and transforms conventional readings of where he is from, and his experience of being from the Caribbean affects how he sees the world. He also looks to investigate the relationship between contemporary and historical conditions. He seeks to transform everyday objects into signs or vocabularies to generate dialogues across different geographies, histories, and contemporary experiences. His work investigates the problematic space of post-independence, symbols of power which remain and shape narratives of development, and commercial expansion and profitability.
In Development (2013)
In this exhibition, Cozier uses cut geometric patterns from paper, patterns originally seen in suburban concrete ‘breeze bricks’. These patterns became more prevalent after Trinidad’s independence from the British, in the 1960’s and 70’s. In other tropical countries, these bricks were used as ventilation, in Cozier’s work they represent the possibility and longing of those in political and social transition across the world. It is intended to articulate a nation’s unresolved promise for a brighter future and the inevitable compromise and sense of displacement that accompanies “progress.” The images he depicts not only represent where he lives, but they also resonate as trans-cultural symbols.
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Entanglements (2015)
In this video installation, Christopher Cozier presents to the viewer two single channel videos, Gas Men and Globe, which explore the presence and impact of multinational oil companies in various international locations. Through these works he aims to express the politics of the global oil economy. With the videos portraying suited men swinging fuel pump nozzles and hoses in the air like cowboy-style rope tricks and whip cracking, Cozier calls attention to the power dynamics present in this economic paradigm that has grave effects on seemingly anonymous places, lives, and histories.