Inside The People TV
Mural by Lari Richardson (1987)
Acrylic
on plywood 8'x10'
The mural depicts scenes from some of
Banyan's productions and features people who have worked with Banyan over the
years or who have inspired Banyan in the earlys.
The motif at the bottom shows a globe
in what we call a 'Pitch-oil tin', a large tin used to hold kerosene or
biscuits in days gone by. The reference is to a line from the Mighty Spoiler's Money
in the Bank which says he is
so poor that:
If you put the world in a pitch oil
tin
I couldn't pay a cent to see the thing spin
This tin, complete with globe, appears
incidentally in many of the scenes in our drama series Morral (1978)
In the centre of the mural are three
faces of a cube each of which is a television screen cut from mirrors.
Inside the People TV
The title comes from
the Banyan motto which derives from a line spoken by a character in Who the
C.A.P. Fits… our first drama
series (1977) who is watching television, sees her son being interviewed in the
news and exclaims:
The creole subtext is that "The
People TV" is something which belongs to someone else (the establishment,
the (white) people, whatever) as in the admonishment "Don't put your feet
on the people furniture" to a child who is visiting the home of some upper
class or socially superior person and doesn't show the appropriate respect.
Banyan's work has been focused on
making this subtext literal.