Elizabeth Mini
"Spirit of the Dance"
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My mantle is a tribute to the Garifuna Indians –a mixture of black African slaves and Carib Indians of Lesser Antilles—who migrated from Guyana and Venezuela to St Vincent Island. I have named the dancers in my mantle after Garifuna Indians who were part of my childhood in my native Honduras.
In 1635 English sailing vessels carrying slaves from Nigeria to America capsized, freeing the blacks, Inter-breeding followed during the next ten years when most of them swam to the mountainous island. Many years later the Garifuna Indians were excelled to the island of Honduras Roatan. Eventually they migrated to the coastal areas of mainland Honduras.
I was born on a banana plantation in Honduras. Because my mother had major medical complications my father hired a Garifuna lady to care for me. She was with me until I was a young adult.
Music and dance feeds the sours of the Garifauna. In their bodies is the spirit of the dance. “On the beaches they have made their peace with history. Centuries have merged flesh with sky, sweat with rain, and earth with sleep.” (From The Garifuna Story by Guillermo Yuscaran, Nuevo Sol Publications, 1990; pg. 45, 48, 49, 59. I had the pleasure of meeting the author in 2009 who invited me to exhibit my artwork in Honduras.