Esther Chin is set to give a Mini Art Talks on Instagram Live

Hop online tomorrow lunchtime - 1pm (GMT-5) and join us on Instagram for a live Mini Art Talk with Esther Chin. She will be chatting with arts researcher & lecturer/ independent curator Petrina Dacres.

The newest upcoming video in our Art Docs series features Esther. Esther's process-oriented work draws references and materials from the natural world and Asian culture. The video will be available on our YouTube channel tomorrow. See you then. Our Instagram handle is @tiderisingartprojects

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Artists To Know: Petrona Morrison

JAMAICA 2010, 2010

ID SERIES I, 2019

Petrona Morrison is an accomplished multimedia and installation artist. She has been a practicing artist for over 30 years and between 2006 and 2014 served as the Director of the School of Visual Arts at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Jamaica. While her early assemblages and installations often incorporated found and ready-made objects, her artworks of the last decade experiment with digital images and video. Morrison's work addresses both autobiographical and social issues and her recent meditative images specifically considers the role of representation in the way in which we perceive, communicate and survey aspects of self and identity. These images ask us to think about how we come to understand black people's bodies and experience. And, the problematic ways in which science, the media, techniques of governmentality such as identification cards or mugshots- have acted as means of surveillance and distorted knowledge and perception of black bodies.

- Petrina Dacres

The 'Artists To Know' feature began as a part of the Instagram Takeover that we partnered with Residency Unlimited on during the period of protests over public monuments, racial injustice and other calls for political paradigm shifts (June 19th). It is our wish to further showcase a growing list of Caribbean artists that are doing work and have done work that is both critical and timely. Find out more about Petrona Morrisons' work on The National Gallery of Jamaica's website. 

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Artists To Know: Katrina Coombs

TRANSCEND, 2019

LOST SOULS NOT FORGOTTEN, 2019 

Katrina Coombs’ recently opened a solo show just a couple weeks before the COVID-19 shutdowns. The show was one of the first in a long time in the capital city of Kingston of contemporary fibre arts with a political edge. Her work is very tactile, full and indicative of shapes drawn from the female form. She works with woven objects which envelop the space in colours such as red and white and cream. She talks about a relationship, a tension even, between the self and the other in her work. Coombs teaches at The Edna Manley College of the Visual & Performing Arts in the Textile & Fibre Arts Department. She is also one of the founding directors of Blaqmango, a local art consultancy service which also operates a yearly summer residency in Jamaica.

- Oneika Russell

The 'Artists To Know' feature began as a part of the Instagram Takeover that we partnered with Residency Unlimited on during the period of protests over public monuments, racial injustice and other calls for political paradigm shifts (June 19th). It is our wish to further showcase a growing list of Caribbean artists that are doing work and have done work that is both critical and timely. Find out more about Katrina Coombs' work on Instagram @duchesskcfibres and the artist's website.

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Artists To Know: Giana De Dier

AGREGANDO SAL A HERIDAS ABIERTAS NO.2, 2020

WHAT DOES COMFORT FEEL LIKE, 2020

Giana De Dier is based in Panama. In her earlier work she made portraits in pencil of glamorous women of Afro-descent drawings. The drawings celebrated beauty and style as a part of the presentation of the black woman. Recent work has turned to collages of both archival and contemporary photos being paired with objects and environments of shaping a persona and navigating a cultural space. She describes the work as visual stories which are reliant on memory within communities of Afro descent in Latin America. Her work makes the argument for inclusion in historical discussions, cultural appreciation and relevance of the African diaspora within broader visual culture.  

- Oneika Russell

The 'Artists To Know' feature began as a part of the Instagram Takeover that we partnered with Residency Unlimited on during the period of protests over public monuments, racial injustice and other calls for political paradigm shifts (June 19th). It is our wish to further showcase a growing list of Caribbean artists that are doing work and have done work that is both critical and timely. Find out more about Giana Der Diers' work on Instagram @gianadedierstudio and the artist's website.

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Artists To Know: Richard Mark Rawlins

Still From FINDING BLACK, 2013-2015

From FINDING BLACK, 2013-2015

Richard Mark Rawlins  is a Trinidadian, UK-based artist who has focused on art which seeks to intervene and question the culture and representation in mass media of cultural minorities. He has recently focused on print and print-making in unconventional ways such as burning onto clothing, zines and printing onto ceramics and other objects of cultural significance. He also takes reference from the world of popular comics and superhero narratives. Rawlins has also acted as the visionaire behind the catalogue design of several of the most noted Caribbean art exhibitions. His online journals Artz Pub & Draconian Switch have fostered this more social and critical aspect of his design practice. The work featured comes from his ‘Finding Black’ series.

- Oneika Russell

The 'Artists To Know' feature began as a part of the Instagram Takeover that we partnered with Residency Unlimited on during the period of protests over public monuments, racial injustice and other calls for political paradigm shifts (June 19th). It is our wish to further showcase a growing list of Caribbean artists that are doing work and have done work that is both critical and timely. Find out more about Richard Mark Rawlins' work on Instagram @rmraffinity and the artist's website.

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Artists To Know: Ludgi Savon

SPIRIT OF FLOWERS, 2018

 TRANSHUMANISME VEGETALIA SPIRITUS, 2018

Ludgi Savon is based in Martinique and works across a variety of media. The range extends to photography, performance, embroidery and drawing. Through his work, he seeks to put on a ‘new skin’, a new persona as a hybrid spirit. His work has been described as the exploration of a ‘spooky universe’. If hybrid Afro rituals and cultural beliefs and practices are spooky and threatening, then that may be a reality for some. For others, the work does seem to be a visualization and embodiment of the inner lives as well as the outward traditional expressions of Caribbean peoples. If only at once to explore how our identities are in flux, ever changing and how we are able to be in tune with natural ecologies even while living in a modern reality. Though the work is dependent on the body for its realization, I see Savon asking the question ‘What more am I beyond this body?’

- Oneika Russell

 The 'Artists To Know' feature began as a part of the Instagram Takeover that we partnered with Residency Unlimited on during the period of protests over public monuments, racial injustice and other calls for political paradigm shifts (June 19th). It is our wish to further showcase a growing list of Caribbean artists that are doing work and have done work that is both critical and timely. Find out more about Ludgi Savons' work on Instagram @lulunovas and the artist's website.

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ARTISTS TO KNOW: Nadia Huggins

From the CIRCA NO FUTURE SERIES, Nadia Huggins

From the CIRCA NO FUTURE SERIES, Nadia Huggins

Nadia Huggins is a young photographer and graphic artist who has used the Caribbean sea as a significant feature in her work. The sea is a potent symbol in Caribbean culture, conjuring up the history of the Middle Passage as well as our contemporary experience of labour and leisure, migration, pollution, tourism and the drugs trade. Hugggins’ underwater shots can be dramatic and contemplative offering viewers unique perspectives on the way in which the marine ecosystem can facilitate ideas about our bodies, identities and social relations. For example, her series, Circa no Future, considers the relationship of masculinity to the sea. The work features young boys frolicking in the waters of Indian Bay, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines. The photographs sought to capture their joy and innocence as well as their posturing of bravery as they leaped off a large rock into the sea.

- Petrina Dacres

 The 'Artists To Know' feature began as a part of the Instagram Takeover that we partnered with Residency Unlimited on during the period of protests over public monuments, racial injustice and other calls for political paradigm shifts (June 19th). It is our wish to further showcase a growing list of Caribbean artists that are doing work and have done work that is both critical and timely. Find out more about Nadia Huggins' work on Instagram @nadiahuggins and the artist's website.

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Artists To Know: Omari Ra

From BE! THE AKOBEN AESTHETIC, 2019 (a group show with K Khalfani Ra),

Omari Ra 

detail from series of collages by Omari Ra, 2019

Omari Ra is the current Head of the Painting Department at the Edna Manley College and has been an important figure in Jamaican painting for over thirty years. The exploration of blackness, black masculinity, and (neo)colonial power in Jamaica has been a main underpinning in his work.  In his monumental paintings Ra has consistently depicted himself in the guise of African-Caribbean historic rebel leaders to reclaim and embody the history of resistance in the region. He has also used other icons of power, whether Queen Victoria or Jamaica’s first Prime Minister, Alexander Bustamante, to challenge colonial and national narratives.  Ra’s early paintings were neo-expressive in style and as his work developed he experimented with collage and installation. He has actively engaged the exploration of material painting on tarpaulin, textile, playing cards and bullets. Rather than the title visual artist, he uses the term philo-visualizer to refer to the work he does through his practice and in the community to encourage critical thought about identity and local popular culture by young black creatives.

- Oneika Russell

 The 'Artists To Know' feature began as a part of the Instagram Takeover that we partnered with Residency Unlimited on during the period of protests over public monuments, racial injustice and other calls for political paradigm shifts (June 19th). It is our wish to further showcase a growing list of Caribbean artists that are doing work and have done work that is both critical and timely. Find out more about Omari Ra's work on Instagram @akoben_head and The National Gallery of Jamaica's website.

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Artists To Know: La Vaughn Belle

I AM QUEEN MARY, 2018 - La Vaughn Belle & Jeannette Ehlers 

I AM QUEEN MARY, 2018 - La Vaughn Belle & Jeannette Ehlers 

La Vaughn Belle is a multi-media artist whose work mine the colonial past to expose contemporary social hierarchies and to afford visibility to African-Caribbean experiences. Often inspired by colonial material culture in the Virgin Islands, objects and spaces become avenues of investigation of identity, memory and history. Colonial buildings, masonry, pottery and documents are archival points of departure for her paintings, photographs, sculptures or prints. One of her most recent, well-known artwork is the 2018 I am Queen Mary monument, a collaborative project with Danish artist Jeannette Ehlers, that recalls the history of black slave resistance in the former Danish West Indies and to challenge Danish colonial amnesia. The subject of the work is Queen Mary, a prominent leader of the 1878 labour revolt in St Croix, whose likeness was created using the features of both artists. The sculpture was placed in front of the Danish West Indian warehouse in Copenhagen as a public intervention that inserts black, heroic imagery in the pageantry of Western art on view at the site.

- Petrina Dacres


The 'Artists To Know' feature began as a part of the Instagram Takeover that we partnered with Residency Unlimited on during the period of protests over public monuments, racial injustice and other calls for political paradigm shifts (June 19th). It is our wish to further showcase a growing list of Caribbean artists that are doing work and have done work that is both critical and timely. Find out more about La Vaughn Belle's work on Instagram @lavaughnbelle and at the artist's website.

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Artists To Know: Phillip Thomas

Phillip Thomas - Selves Portrait 2015

Phillip Thomas - The Other Side of Now is the Same Side of Then, 2019

Phillip Thomas’ recent paintings often feature a central male figure looking out at the viewer while being ensconced or surrounded by the signs of luxury, wealth and social mobility. Sometimes the figure also appears as a silhouetted shape. It is often unclear if this figure is at odds with his surroundings; a product of the environment or; another of the objects within these partially ambiguous spaces. There is also in the picture, allusion to the sympathies held by our protagonist as he wears the colours of and is surrounded by symbols of Garveyism. I read Thomas’ images as projections of possible futures, aspirations, new realities and challenges to representation of the black male. Thomas is based in Jamaica and teaches in the Painting Department at The Edna Manley College of the Visual & Performing Arts.

- Oneika Russell

The 'Artists To Know' feature began as a part of the Instagram Takeover that we partnered with Residency Unlimited on during the period of protests over public monuments, racial injustice and other calls for political paradigm shifts (June 19th). It is our wish to further showcase a growing list of Caribbean artists that are doing work and have done work that is both critical and timely. Find out more about Phillip Thomas's work on Instagram @phillipthomasartand The National Gallery of Jamaica's website.

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