Adele

Contemporary Art & Performance

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ADELE - MAS as reckoning - QUEEN PATRONESS - Ancestral Memory and the nuances of vengeance - ARTIST TALK - 01-03-26

What a pleasure to be asked to moderate this spirited conversation about the process of making and playing a resurrected character from dusty archives. Shanice Smith has reprised this character, Queen Patroness from the depths of the DEVIL Mas pantheon to bring her to the light of day. Choreographer Jelae Stroude -Mtchell and Chief Librarian (University of Trinidad and Tobago) UTT Susan Sandiford weighed in on the development and continuation of the trilogy intended to conclude in 2027.

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ADELE - My contribution to Dragon Mas 2026 - The Banner.

Photograph - Rubadiri Victor

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ADELE - MAS - Tradition, Memory & the Critical Contemporary - ARTISTS TALKS - 27-02-2026 - I was the first speaker, introduced by Professor Patricia Mohammed the Moderator for this event.

It was very well attended and introduced me to some new practitioners as well as the opportunity to continue conversations with older friends in the gayelle.

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ADELE - Traditional (NEW) Category - INDIGENOUS - Dyanami Hiboma - 2026

ADELE - Images of First Peoples

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ADELE - (NEW) Traditional Mas Character for 2026 - Dyanami Hiboma - Amerindian Goddess.

Reference:Nothing Happens Here by Jeremy Dennis inspired Dyanami Hiboma.

I have wanted to portray an Indian character that has been part of the group of Traditional Characters for some time. However, I have never felt that to do so was authentic for me. In 2025 my residency at Stonybrook University in Long Island would lead to the answer to my question. I visited the Zuccaire Gallery and came across a very striking image by indigenous Photographer Jeremy Dennis. His reclining woman is pierced with arrows.

It instantly brought up the thought of the painting of St Sebastian by Andrea Mantegna and that began a fire inside of me to speak truth in portrayal of our First Peoples.

In our Traditional Mas we have a character called Black Indian. That is the closest knod to the First Peoples. Dyanami Hiboma is my foray into that history by honoring and portraying the invisible stories that deserve acknowledgment and respect.

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ADELE - OUT OF THE BLUE - A series of ceramic plates honoring the Paramin "BLUE DEVILS" exhibition to come.

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Adele Todd - Divali 2025 - UWI DCFA Exhibition Hall - Floor piece and one wall installation.

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Adele Todd - 2025 - Stony Brook University - THEROOM - Dean Arlen & Adele Todd - Proposal for The Staller Steps - Presentation on approaches to 'green' and include student voices to a beloved space in need of improvement.

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Monsieur PeePee - Adele Todd - 2025 - Jouvert (un)traditional character - This year I play the X-factor. The illusive "chile' fadda' of the Baby Doll. Always discussed and never seen, never known.

He demands acknowledgement, as he believes that the Baby Doll gathers too much attention. Particularly when she is constantly in his bed. He boasts more than one relationship at a time, yet insists that no one has ever accused him of being a father.

The Performance involves Monsieur PeePee secure in his swagger as he enters the stage. He discusses in an offhanded way how much he is loved and adored particularly for his prowess with women. As he saunters about, showing off his 'pipe' to the audience, he finds himself affected by something in his jacket. As he unzips it, children fall out of his 'back' at will, scaring him off the stage.

Monsieur PeePee -Jouvert 2025

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A different styling of the traditional baby doll | National Carnival Commission of Trinidad and Tobago- NCC

A different styling of the traditional baby doll.

Adam Smith Square Performance - Make Yuh Bed.

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When I set out to create this Performance I did not think about Emma Sulkowicz, the Columbia University student who carried a mattress around campus to protest her rape in 2012.

Nor did I consider the stories experienced by a friend who worked for a Publisher who was seduced by a woman she called mattress for all of the hijinks gotten into.

However, as happens, an idea can align, and this one has done so - and it resonates deeply.

MAKE YUH BED is literal, figurative and symbolic all at once. So you make your bed, so you shall lie...The Baby Doll (Babi Doll) struts up and down with her child in hand. She is asking for maintenance.

I confront Babi Doll's antics head on with this Performance.

Your bed is a major emotional space. A huge portion of your life is had there.

Babi Doll males 'her' bed. She lies on her mattress. It is a canvas for her sexuality - it begins in innocence...you are blanketted, cuddled....you may have had many accidents in it. Urine, blood, tears and sweat.

It is a place for sensual exploration and intercourse. It is your sleep, your health and eventually your death.

Make Yuh Bed discusses the relationship of Babi Doll with her sexuality. She puts her sheet on, she struggles, she embraces it. She lies upon it. It may bring a moment of solice. It may be a reminder to constant pain and regret.

The pain. pleasure principle.

MAKE YUH BED.

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Sexypink -

As yuh make yuh bed..

So you go lie dong on it.

One of the words of wisdom passed on intergenerationally in the Afro- French Creole culture. Young girls were instructed by wiser family members of harm it would bring to them when unheeded.

The bed with its trimmings were sacrosanct. It was a metaphor for la vie en rose and to interfere with the elaborate rules would cause damnation to the unwary.

Those who did not obey would experience pure misery. Nonetheless some enjoyed the bedroom regardless and pursued the lifestyle....some when becoming pregnant would become the Baby Doll...those who did not conceive would be called the derogatory name of MATTRESS.

Indeed, it was literally how a young girl made her bed that she would lie in it for her future life.

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Adele Todd - Shadow Show 2023 - A little boy (named Corderoy) , Looking for Horn and Poverty is Hell - some of my favorite Mighty Shadow songs interpreted for a show honoring the great Soca Artist.

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Little Girl NOT Lost from the PoPo Series

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Fragile Officer - from the PoPo series

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The Toy Tricycle - from the PoPo series

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A detail from Walking the Threshold.