TOP BARBADIAN SCULPTOR Ras Bongo Congo I passed away today.
Artist Corrie Scott made the announcement today on her Facebook page.
In a brief outline of Ras Bongo Congo I’s career she said since his conversion to the Rastafari faith in 1978, he had augmented his early training as a stonemason with a new found consciousness, to become one of the leading sculptors in Barbados.
Ras Bongo Congo I was a multiple Gold Award winner in the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA), and in 1991 was part of a 3 Dimensional Design workshop, coordinated by the OAS and the National Cultural Foundation.
In 1992 he joined painter Ras Jahaziel Tafari for the ground-breaking exhibition Let My People Go, at Queens Park Gallery, Bridgetown.
Since then he represented Barbados at CARIFESTA V in Trinidad and Tobago, and A Bridge To The Americas exhibition, Alfred 1. Dupont Building, Miami.
His other exhibitions include, Great Kings of Cricket, Grand Salle Gallery – Central Bank of Barbados, as well as contemporary shows at the Barbados National Bank, Sherbourne Centre, the University of the West Indies, and the Barbados Consulate, NYC.
As Ras Bongo envisioned it, “Art is the soul of the people. The expression which the artist projects should uplift and guide the people.” (MB)
