I've always had a love/hate relationship with Saturday morning market trips. One one hand, this is where I'd get the ripest, juiciest fruits and goodies; I even had a favourite orange-man in the Charlotte Street market. On the other hand, market trips are just abysmal. The frenzied atmosphere leads you to buy a diseased bunch of ochroes for $3.99, when a little further up another person's selling a fresh bunch for $2.99! Vendors jostle you the entire time, you could be pick-pocketed, and sometimes you pay for goods but forget to collect them in all the hustle... But still, if you wanted to feed your family properly whilst saving some dollars, you had to visit the market for the essentials. Even though my memories are based on my childhood trips with my Grandmother to the Croisse in Trinidad and my adult dips in the market, the Jamaican scene depicted here by Susan Alexander reminds me of those Saturday morning treks. You'd stand at the entrance of the market, a literal maze of skirts, aprons, scarves and trays, and feel thoroughly intimidated, equally excited, and definitely unsure of which way to turn. The cries would be a seamless chant from one stall to the next - "Fish! Redfish, Carite & Joshuaaaa! Pumpkin! $3.00 for one lb. Sweet Sweet Sugarcane here!" - and so on. Market Dreamscape 3, with its deep colours and intricate layouts, vibrates with that busy hum of the market place.
L.M.N. Harris.
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