STATEMENT OF WORK

Painting, drawing, and printmaking are the foundation of my practice. I create works built with various materials that vary in surface, including canvas, paper, washi, linen, and unstretched canvas. Figures are situated amongst imagined or altered landscapes and abstract grounds. The spaces and figures I conjure stem from a visual amalgamation of my life in New Jersey fused with the memories and culture I have inherited. This inheritance includes my English father, but particularly originates from my mother, who is Antiguan.

I have never been to Antigua myself. The floating atmosphere within my images expresses my experiences of displacement and feeling unrooted. A lack of extended familial access led to feeling similar to a drifter in my immediate environment. Caribbean diasporic experiences I had exposure to on the East Coast were not specific to Antigua. The atmosphere and intensity of light in my works associated with Antigua are sourced from my conversations with my mother about her childhood in St. John’s and Newfield Village. 

The autobiographical nature of my practice synthesizes disparate influences into one world. The one-winged angel figure that appears in many of my paintings is my visual union of Final Fantasy 7, Jamaican dancehall fashion, New York streetwear, Basquiat’s Angel, Catholic iconography, Yoruban orishas, and the practice of Santería. Cultural signifiers in my work such as Clarks desert boots, puffer jackets, and silk headscarves resonate with those who regularly witness that imagery in their communities. I want to express the vision hyperspecific to myself and people like me. 

My work serves as a vehicle for critical dialogue with other artists and, most importantly, with myself. It allows me to contextualize my life and understand my place in the world. At its foundation, my practice is a mix of affirmation, creation, and questioning. Tension and similarity exist between the visual cultures of my parents. Are the three lions—a symbol of the British monarchy and the England national team—to be read as Rastafari Lions of Judah if placed in an Antiguan landscape? My art practice is open to self-investigation, allowing me to create a world inhabited by figures and landscapes shaped by an amalgamation of my everyday life, culture, imagination, and both the memories passed down to me and my own.