The art of public diplomacy demonstrated at the Grenada Pavilion at Expo 2010 Shanghai

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The largest world’s fair in history by size, Shanghai Expo 2010 also saw the largest attendance in a single day. What exposure for Grenada! What exposure for my art! Having worked in the Grenada Board of Tourism and hospitality industry for a few years with the ability to speak Spanish, French and now Chinese, I was chosen to assist at the Grenada Pavilion. It was the best summer holiday I ever experienced following the Beijing Olympics in 2008. What a great time to be in China attending Ren Min University and completing a degree in Diplomacy.

My time spend there was a delicious blend of informing visitors about the Spice Isle, painting in the walkway, and exploring all other pavilions after knock of hours. The UK Pavilion designed as a Bearskin hat, the French Pavilion with its monochromatic paintings of children’s faces and the German Pavilion rich in history left a lasting impression. There were endless pavilions, endless countries all in one place.

I painted a series of tropical paintings that sold like hot potatoes. However one particular painting was on display which speaks about the relationship between China and Grenada. It was a painting of two children; one Grenadian & one Chinese alongside each other. The Chinese girl was wearing a typical Asian cute dress and the Grenadian girl a Red T-shirt. The colour Red in China signifies the luckiest colour as seen on the Chinese flag. However, the choice of colours on the entire canvas was Ice, Green and Gold all of which represents lucky colours in China as well as the Flag of Grenada. The painting established a connection of friendship thus the reason for the two young faces which represented the future of these two countries.

Other Grenadian artists also displayed their lovely works at the Pavilion. It was a great way to share Grenada with the world.