PIA partnered with the Art Gallery of York University (AGYU) to support the publication Symbols of Endurance, the first monograph on Trinidadian born, Japan-based artist Marlon Griffith, edited by Emelie Chhangur.

Symbols of Endurance explores Griffith’s unique contribution to contemporary art through a detailed analysis of the artist’s informed engagement with vernacular tradition, popular and festive forms of civic celebration. Tracing Griffith’s early career as Carnival designer or “Mas Man,” first designing kiddy bands in Trinidad and later for Nottinghill in London, through to his large-scale public processions created and staged in-situ across the globe for contemporary art audiences, this publication is a major contribution to anyone engaged in participatory practices of resistance, the role of performance as mode of public address and intercultural exchange, and alternative forms of exhibition making in the civic sphere. The publication also fully documents two major AGYU commissions by Emelie Chhangur entitled Ring of Fire and Symbols of Endurance which received multiple awards.