Jab Jumbie, 2023 (graphite on paper) commissioned for the We Out Here exhibition showcasing the work of six Black artists of Caribbean heritage based in Hastings. Hastings Contemporary, 1 April 2023 - 4 June 2023
‘Jumbies’ is a series of drawings in progress which examines themes of blackness – as represented in the media and through popular and carnival culture – racism, migration (forced or otherwise) and the continued legacies of the Atlantic slave trade and British colonialism. I attempt to create mash ups of things in my head gleaned from current affairs, history, past and present, popular culture, Trinidadian carnival and folkloric mythology all within the form of a ‘Moko Jumbie’, a spirit that walked across the Atlantic on stilts, following the enslaved to the Caribbean, acting as both a recorder of truths, a spiritual healer and a griot. The drawings are largely expressive in nature, laden with text and images, often put into no sequential order or often a non-sequitor fashion. These drawings allow me to follow on from the path I took creating my 50’ drawing Like A Rope, (2019-2020).
This work is on going.