SCORES of young people came out to the Arthur Chung Convention Centre on Sunday to lend support and appreciation to local artists at the ‘Filling the Void’ exhibition.

This event was created by two local creatives, Shamar Spooner and Shamer Hescott, and was piloted a year ago. After a resounding success last year, the event was expanded this year and is said to be an annual activity for people in the creative arts industry.

This year, the event emulated that of a ‘Red Carpet Met Gala’, and patrons came out in their numbers, dressed in fine style to suit the theme.

Notwithstanding the designer wear that were strutting the red carpet, the highlights of the event were the exceptional paintings and sculptures, all of which were done by young people of Guyana as young as 17 years old.

The Guyana Chronicle promenaded the venue and engaged some of the artists and attendees, who all expressed sentiments of satisfaction with the execution of Filling the Void.

Some artists however, spoke to the lack of opportunities and appreciation for art in Guyana.
In fact, 17-year-old Latoya DaSilva said that she does not believe that art is something that many people buy into in Guyana, as such, she is most times forced to paint just for fun.

“To create these pieces is really hard and it takes a lot of time, focus and resources. But people in Guyana generally do not have that appreciation for art pieces. Very rare you would see persons going out to buy paintings,” the young woman said.

Nonetheless, despite the lack of support, these young creatives continue to embrace, practise and improve their skills.

It is the hope of the organisers however, that more is done for young people in the industry. The concept behind the name ‘Filling the Void’, speaks to lack of support and opportunities and the event is aimed at filling that void. However, more needs to be done.

“Shamar Spooner and I were on vacation in Barbados in April last year, and on our way back we had the idea to do an exhibition, and we started thinking of what to display and we realised that we knew a lot of great young artists who are not so recognised for their work and we wanted to show everyone what they were capable of and also what we were capable of. Shamar came up with the name ‘Filling the Void’, in a sense of the void being us young creatives not getting enough credit and recognition for our work in Guyana, so we wanted to fill that void, hence the name of the event,” Shamer Hescott had told the Guyana Chronicle in a previous interview.
Hescott said that he believes if tourism is boosted in Guyana, it can also aid in creating opportunities and create a market for young artists to benefit business wise from their work.

Shamar shared that he is passionate about many things, including helping other young creatives like himself in Guyana. “I believe that Guyana has so much untapped talent in our youths and we don’t recognise it, so I aim to find ways to incorporate their talents and make it as unconventional and different as possible and this is what sparked the idea of Filling the Void,” Shamar said.
The two young men got much support this year to expand the event, which took them a step further to their ultimate goal.
Filling the Void will now be an annual event, and will continue to grow and expand, to create continuous opportunities for young creatives.