Marlon Griffith: Symbols of Endurance

This is the first monograph on the procession and installation practice of Trinidadian-born, Japan based artist Marlon Griffith. With essays by Emelie Chhangur, Chanzo Greenidge, Gabriel Levine, and Claire Tancons, Symbols of Endurance explores Griffith's unique contribution to contemporary art through a detailed analysis of the artist's formative engagement with vernacular tradition, popular and festive forms of civic celebration, and performative forms of colonial cultural resistance in the Americas.

Symbols of Endurance follows Griffith's artistic trajectory from his early career as a designer, or 'Masman', for Carnivals in Trinidad and London and considers these origins in relation to his later largescale public processions created and staged in-situ across the globe for contemporary art audiences.

This publication is a major contribution for anyone engaged in participatory practices of collective and creative resistance, performance as mode of public address and intercultural exchange, and alternative forms of exhibition making in the civic sphere.
Published in partnership with Art Gallery of York University.

Emelie Chhangur: Emelie Chhangur is an artist, curator and writer based in Toronto, where she works as the Assistant Director/Curator of the Art Gallery of York University.
Dr. Chanzo Greenidge is an International Relations specialist. His focus is on the impact of global change factors on migration, information & talent flows.
Gabriel Levine: Gabriel Levine is a writer, researcher, musician, and performing artist working between Toronto and Montreal.
Claire Tancons: Trained as a curator and art historian, Claire Tancons practices curating as an expanded creative field and experiments with the political aesthetics of walking, marching, second lining, masquerading and parading.