Artist Statement

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My practice investigates images as sites of group identity and unconscious communication. Working primarily in painting, I examine the material bodily foundations of political concepts like feminism, racial equality, and class, tracing their appearances in objects, photographs, and artistic movements like abstraction. Ultimately, my work seeks to develop its own visual language that can express sensations and realities that defy vocalization, taking advantage of painting's status as a medium that also conveys the story of how it is made.

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My current body of work explores the tensions and harmonies between Western, Eastern, African, and Black modes of representation and abstraction. This chapter focuses on my experience growing up in Jamaica, and its works trace aspects of Jamaican and Caribbean culture that are quietly embedded in Jamaican architecture, domestic life, and community through unconventional materials like zinc and burlap. These works about Jamaica speak to upsetting gaps in wealth and gender inequality that have long affected the island as well as its rich history of spiritualism and political resistance by drawing attention to topics like abortion, menstruation, illness, and sexuality.

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The paintings in this series also speak to my diverse array of influences, which includes artists such as Emma Amos, Judy Chicago, Juanita McNeely, Ana Mendieta, Doreen Lynette Garner, and David Hammonds who collectively challenge artistic conventions toward political ends. Many of these artists similarly investigate material history and their works illuminate phenomena like objectification, racial and gender discrimination, historical omissions, and medical injustice.

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