Tides of Freedom Exhibition: Lunch Time with the Artist Victoria Rundberg-Rivera

M.A. Dworkin

St. Croix - When you bring together three brilliant women who have been instrumental in putting together one of the most stirring art exhibitions running currently on St. Croix, when you sit them down with a bevy of art patrons in the quaint, rustic gallery at Fort Frederik Museum - whose history dates back to the days of the Emancipation - when you surround them all with majestic, inspiring paintings from the Tides of Freedom Exhibition, and allow them to probe the fertile mind of Victoria “Vicky” Rundberg-Rivera, M.D., one of the most talented emerging artists of the day, you are destined to find a treasure trove of wisdom that will inspire your thoughts for days to come. 

In their first production in the interview series Lunch Time with the Artist, a Department of Planning and Natural Resources’ (DPNR) Division of Libraries, Archives & Museums (DLAM) presentation, Monica Marin, DLAM’s Chief Curator, and DPNR’s Amy Parker DeSorbo, Territorial Director for DLAM, sat down to talk with artist Vicky Rundberg-Rivera. 

The conversation gave a snapshot of Ms. Rundberg-Rivera’s rather fascinating, eclectic choice of paths that her life has taken, including a by-chance entry into the world of art, and the deep drawn inspirations of her past that continue to drive her forward into the far horizons of her future.

“Being here at this Fort is very special to me. It represents so much that we know from the past and so much that we don’t know. For me, it leaves me emotionally charged and a lot of that feeling is portrayed in my art. This Fort is really base zero for  my experience of living here,” she spoke intimately to Ms. Marin, Ms. DeSorbo and the audience, who were all huddled around Tides of Freedom paintings that represented various artist’s interpretations on the 1848 Emancipation. Stirring works by El’Roy Simmonds, his Emancipation and Carib Indians; Elwin Joseph’s iconic blowing of the conch in Freedom; and Ms. Rundberg-Rivera’s Guazabara with its unusual archaic frame. 

“My life has kind of been about taking chances, doing things out of the ordinary. One of my paintings where the female is looking off to the side, is a little like me, always looking off to see what is around the next corner,” she said.

This truthful assertion comes from a woman who has led a whirlwind life as a practicing Psychiatrist for over 25 years, trying to help the criminally insane, along with adults who sought out her expertise in soothing the problems of their mind. She retired from her New York medical practice to come to St. Croix a decade ago to pursue her first love, which was writing. In the process of finishing her memoir and exploring the written art form, she discovered her passion for painting. 

“While I was thinking about pursuing new paths, people would always say to me, oh, don’t go to New York, you’ll hate it there, you’ll get stuck on drugs and it’s evil there. I had teachers who told me I’d never make it. And I was always thinking, yes, I could get burned in pursuing the next chapter of my life. I did see it as being fiery on the other side, but my foot was already going forward,” she related. “And yet I ended up in Brooklyn with my Auntie who I adore. And went into Premed, and wound up going to my first choice in Med school. If I would have listened to all the echoes from the past, and at the time my ear was very keen listening to them, all the negative talk might have prevented me from moving on.”  

In her work Guazabara (Taino Warrior) acrylic on wood/driftwood and bone bead frame, it indeed carries her signature female face - splashed in expressive colors, the wild shock of curly hair, set against a drift of watery blues and florid greens. But it almost appears as if it’s a face from back in time, staring out through the waters of the future. And the jagged driftwood frame stops whatever preconceived notions you are having about this painting. There is a battle that has been fought here. This is not a face that has just exited a cosmetic store. This is a much more personal work. Ms. Rundberg-Rivera, a warrior herself, is thinking back on the wars she has won and lost.

“I remember thinking when I was young there was this big world out there and I needed to learn all about it before I could enter it. But after a time I realized I could immerse myself into it and learn about it that way. I needed to get out there and start absorbing it. And that conception was a huge change for me,” she recalled. “It was really a growth factor that prepared me for teaching others later on.” 

In the last decade her work has been exhibited on St. Croix at Top Hat Gallery, Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts (CMCArts), St. George Village Botanical Gardens, Cane Roots Art Gallery, wall murals in Frederiksted, and The Women’s Coalition of St. Croix.

“I was thinking of calling my memoir, Blood Clot. I have eight family members down here on St. Croix. They are my heart. I don’t need blood for that,” she laughed. “It’s all about love. We’re here to love one another. That’s very much where I live.”