Peter Doig: Morning, Paramin

Peter Doig (born 1959) lived and worked in Trinidad between 2002 and 2021. During this time, he became friends with the St Lucian poet Derek Walcot (1930–2017). The 28 etchings in this exhibition stand as a memorial to this friendship and the conversation between painter and poet. In 2016 Walcott published a book of poems called Morning, Paramin, written in response to Doig’s paintings. The poems also explore Doig’s complex relationship with place. There was an empathy between the two men: ‘because Art can make us love two countries with one heart, not separately either, but blent’. Born in Scotland, Doig grew up in Trinidad and Canada, studied in London, and lived for many years in Trinidad. All these landscapes and more live alongside each other in the artist’s consciousness. Skiing and ice hockey co-exist with cricket and Carnival. People and places merge in memory and imagination. The etchings are in turn a response to the poems. Walcott’s words prompted an almost meditative reworking of pre-existing paintings, and a process of looking again for the artist. This is a free exhibition.