Domino Effects (prototype): a screen-based interactive media artwork the re-interprets the relationship between Britain and post-abolition Trinidad

Domino Effects is a screen-based media artwork providing a different engagement with historical material (1838- 1948) from Trinidad as a territory of the British Empire. The project is concerned with the personal stories of the plantation worker during this post-abolition period, which was characterised by the introduction of Indian indentureship to Trinidad, the ex-slaves leaving the plantation as a place of work, and the slow demise of the plantation system. This period is also associated with the collective struggle for human rights and better work conditions, and the move towards post-colonial rule and self-governance.

The project will question the nature of the documentation found in the archive. This often includes the stereotypical photographs of the indentured labourer and is marked by the absence of plantation worker testimonies and material evidence of their presence in the Trinidad landscape. Domino Effects will refer to the Creole theories that engage with issues such as identity, linguistics and location to explore individual and social memory of Trinidad, using fictional characters, interactivity, storytelling and imaginary scenes. The final project will be an installation that will tour internationally with the research findings expected to published and presented in journals, catalogues and book chapters.
The research and analysis of the Trinidad archive material will be of interest to other researchers in Britain and the .Caribbean. The artwork will be of cultural value to a general British audience in providing a more complex historical perspective to the relationship between Britain and the Caribbean. It will be of particular interest to the British and international Caribbean, African and Indian diasporic communities living outside the Caribbean region.