The Beginnning of MAS-SAMple

North East based artists, Andrea Macdonald and Sheree Mack have had a long-standing creative relationship over the last four years, working collaboratively on several arts and heritage based projects in the cultural sector. They mutually support each other in the creative and practical development of their own art practice, linked through similar conceptual interests to Caribbean ancestry and re-imagined Diaspora identities.

In February 2007, Macdonald and Mack embarked on a creative research trip to their ancestral homes of Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago to collate first-hand research and new documentation for their personal practice. This journey was a self-initiated ‘go and see’ experience and served as a valuable opportunity for both artists to meet visual artists, writers, curators and critics in the Southern Caribbean. This trip resulted in new contacts, a series of professionally recorded audio interviews, new photographic and literary work, research and visual documentation.

Inspired by the mas-camps of carnival, the representation of the post-colonial condition in the arts, and the two-fold desire for experimentation, investigation and experiences across continents, MAS-SAMple was formally created on their return. Through extensive discussions about the aims and purpose and research regarding existing opportunities, regional and national networks, Macdonald and Mack created MAS-SAMple to establish a combined arts initiative for Caribbean Diaspora artists, issue-based arts and global audiences alike.