As an immigrant from Jamaica at age 9, my art explores themes of identity, belonging, and cultural memory. I’ve previously created a body of work focused on clouds—meditative studies that offered a spiritual lens on change and impermanence. Alongside that, I’ve explored my own family’s migration story from Jamaica to the U.S. in search of a better life.
More recently, current political dynamics around immigration reignited the memory of an encounter I had 20 years ago, when I saw a large Renaissance painting in Venice featuring a Black gondolier. That moment planted a seed, but only now—against today’s backdrop of debate and division—has it taken on deeper significance. My renewed interest in the African presence in Europe, especially as depicted in art, now fuels a new series that blends personal history, research, and visual storytelling to explore migration, representation, and cultural visibility—past and present.