ABSTRACT
This essay provides a brief overview of London’s carnival and its beginnings in the late 1950s. Claudia Jones committed herself to both the culture and political underpinning of Caribbean carnival when she founded the event. London’s West Indian community embraced carnival as an important source of celebration and cultural identity in the face of racist intimidation in Britain. The essay explores various difficulties that black British artists face gaining recognition, particularly those who work in carnival. Clary Salandy, the artistic leader of Mahogany Arts Ltd., in London, is considered one of London’s leading, vanguard carnival designers. Her creation of a mas camp and her focus on community development to pursue carnival as a collective enterprise is examined. Salandy insists that ‘Carnival is art’ and her work exemplifies the tension between her desire to establish carnival as a viable art form in Britain and the social, political and cultural barriers faced by carnival artists today.
