Acclaimed soca artist and performer Machel Montano’s career and life will be celebrated in a new exhibit in New York City.
The Brooklyn Public Library has announced “Journey of a Soca King: The Exhibition,” which opens Saturday, August 22, at its Central Library location. The exhibition — created by the Machel Montano Foundation for Greatness — will be accompanied by programming at various branches across the borough and showcase Montano’s lifelong contributions to soca music and Caribbean culture.
“Brooklyn helped raise me. I lived here, I learned here, and some of my earliest audiences were right in these neighborhoods,” said Montano in a statement. “So for this work to come back to Brooklyn, in a place that is free and open to anybody who walks through the door, means everything. The Caribbean community built a home here, and this exhibition is a way of acknowledging the mark we as a people have made on this city. What moves me most is thinking about a young person walking in, seeing the costumes and the trophies and the records, and understanding that this came from a small island and reached the world. I hope every child who visits leaves knowing their culture deserves that kind of space.”
