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A carnival procession with a crowd of performers in red, white and pink costumes, with crowds of spectators either side.

The Art of Carnival Arts: Mahogany Carnival Design

11 October 2024 – 23 January 2025 | TheGallery, AUB Campus

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  • Event
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  • TheGallery
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  • AUB Campus
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  • BA (Hons) Events Management

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TheGallery at Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) in partnership with BA (Hons) Events Management, part of our new School of Arts, Media, and Creative Industries Management, presents The Art of Carnival Arts, an exhibition of work from Mahogany Carnival Design.

Exhibition overview

The Art of Carnival Arts is an exploration of Carnival’s history through the work of Clary Salandy and Mahogany Carnival Design.

Formed in 1989 by designer Clary Salandy and structural engineer Michael Ramdeen, Mahogany aims to heighten understanding of Carnival and Carnival Arts. The group of multidisciplinary artists have developed techniques of costume design and construction that utilise the human body in the art form of Mas Making.

Over the last 35 years, their large-scale kinetic costumes have made them a powerhouse within the world of Carnival, and they have brought majestic costumes to events both at home, such as the 2012 Olympics, and internationally, like the annual Trinidad Carnival.

Carnival arts have long been underrepresented and this will be one of the first exhibitions in the UK that elevates the art form by capturing Mahogany’s costume-making process from conception, to making, through to the costumes being worn in 2024’s Notting Hill Carnival.

The exhibition also tells the story of Carnival through its social context, presenting the audience with important historical milestones that transformed Carnival into how we see and know it today.

Meet the artist

Headshot for C Salandy.

Clary Salandy

Clary Salandy is a carnival and theatre designer, lecturer and three-dimensional design tutor. She's known for her award-winning...

Curatorial and exhibition design team

The creative team behind the curation, exhibition design and delivery of The Art of Carnival Arts: Mahogany Carnival Design includes:

Violet McClean | Kevin Chambers | Millie Lake | William Hernandez Abreu | Eliza Naden | Alicia Bermudez Garcia | Stephen Ramdeen

From Trinidad to Notting Hill: The History of Carnival

Partnerships and collaborations at Arts University Bournemouth

Green, orange and pink banner from HM Government with white text reading "We are #HereForCulture" in the centre.
Lottery funded Arts Council England logo
A logo made up of a multicoloured clover with black text reading "Brent" next to it.
Three carnival performers, two in bright and colourful abstract costumes, the other in shorts and a blue top with "Curaçao" written on the front.

The Art of Carnival Arts – Formal opening and private view

We invite you and your guests to the formal opening and private view of The Art of Carnival Arts.

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