NEW VIRTUAL EXHIBIT!!
ARTIST STATEMENT
Investigating my connection to nature, spirit, and heritage, I have embraced the traumas and histories of myself and my ancestors as a first-generation Haitian American. The media I produce mirrors my various spiritual and academic revelations propelled by my obsession with research, data, and science. My paintings function as a treatment, not just for my cluttered thoughts but to rectify histories that have been misrepresented, leaving communities behind in their wake. My art desires to be more than a method of coping. Using art as a form of mediation strives for a broader conversation on diasporic identity and cultural disconnection. My art demonstrates what happens when the marginalized are cared for and allowed to play.
Living within the margins of systemic thought, I unknowingly mastered the maneuvering of hegemonic fibers at a young age. Avoiding boldness was a requirement of my assimilation, a constant reminder not to be an interruption. Never to challenge. To fail. To play. Instead, there was a continuous urge to conceal. To endure. To obey. This made my harsh realities clear as a curious and passionate woman of color existing in contemporary society. I want to create to live, not only to survive. Within the past year, I’ve expanded the boundaries of my canvas. My body and mind are to be subject to all parts of the creative process as a medium rather than a tool. I am allowing myself to become the art rather than just the artist, inviting performance and geography into my practice.
Furthering my education revealed the structures that previously instilled constraints and disrupted perceptions of self. The questions and critiques I spent most of my life suppressing have become the foremost inquiries of my subject matter. Through my academic pursuit of cultural anthropology, I have connected my inner musings to theoretical studies and evolving sciences. Over this past semester, I honed my understanding of neuroscience and astrobiology, fascinated by the impending similarities between the cosmos, human anatomy, and the natural environment. Saturated with writings and information, I aim to highlight my findings through creative documentation and ethnographic fieldwork. I crave to wander, to play.