After a two-year pandemic delay, Judith Falloon-Reid is ready to embark on a tour of several cities with her Aaah-Inspiring Antarctica, A Jamaican on Ice Experience, which opened to great acclaim at the National Library of Jamaica in March 2020. The Experience, which includes a photo exhibit, a film, readings from her two books and a talk about her experience as the first Jamaican woman to visit Antarctica, will also feature performances by Internationally acclaimed Dub Poet Malachi Smith.
“Picking up where we left off after two years isn’t easy, but we’re up for the challenge,” says Judith. “I had a good chance to refresh my presentation last year when the exhibit was hosted at Island Space Caribbean Museum in Plantation, in the hopes that the pandemic was nearing an end.” The pandemic wasn’t over, and the exhibit went back into storage until now.
The Tour
The tour has scheduled stops in Los Angeles at the Caricon International Caribbean Literary Conference. The exhibit and experience will be hosted at Malik Books, the leading African American bookstore in the city. From there, it goes to Houston and back to South Florida, as part of Jamaica’s 60th Anniversary celebrations. Exhibits in Atlanta and South Carolina are still in the planning stages for this year.
“Aaah-Inspiring Antarctica is much more than an exhibit,” says Judith. “It is an experience that draws you into a different World. It’s educational, entertaining, and fun!” The film showcases footage of the scenery and wildlife she recorded while in Antarctica but, more importantly, highlights the region’s environmental impact on everyday life. “Having Malachi Smith join me on tour is very exciting because we work so well together, and we each bring something different to the Experience.”
Malachi Smith is internationally known as a dynamic dub poet who was one of the early pioneers of dub poetry and travelled the world teaching and sharing the art form. “It was a natural fit,” says Malachi. “Judith is an accomplished author, filmmaker, and poet. We have worked and travelled together on several occasions, including the Jamaican Poets School Tour, and along with her husband, Michael Brown, we make a great team. The audiences are in for a treat.”
The Los Angeles exhibit is sponsored by AACE Home Care, BarriVision Films and Caricon Caribbean Literary Conference. For more information, visit www.jamaicanonice.com.
